Lynx academy
by Infinity WEAPON
Summary: A seemingly normal teacher, with a very abnormal past, is thrust into a conflict his father began, years ago. Rated M for violence, coarse language. Sequel to Legend of Tal.
1. Beginnings 1

**Ah, yet another , I hope most of you enjoy it, and I will state that it is a direct sequel to Legend of Tal, so there will be many similarities to the story. However, the story is pretty self sufficiant, if you haven't read LoT, than you shouldn't have any trouble with ideas in this one.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, I own only the concepts and OCs presented in this story. I also own the Modling varient of changelings. **

**Drachä Academy**

Drachä. My home away from home. The one place in the world where I'm not tense. Well, I suppose that's not entirely true. I feel comfortable around my parents, and Angel.

This place is where I'm needed; no one else has the skill to do what I do. Ironically enough, I'm a teacher. The best one here. But before I get into that, let me explain a little more about myself.

My name is Lynx, but half the world knows me as Instructor Lynx, the best there is. I'm not exaggerating, my name and title is known all over. But don't let my occupation fool you; I'm not what I seem to be. Try to mug me. I dare you.

I'm known the world over because I'm the world's best battler. When it comes to Pokémon, I'm the best. So, I instruct others on how to be as awesome as me. But not the way you may be thinking.

I hear you saying 'Teacher? Then he must be teaching a load of people!' No, it's not like that. At Drachä, we have a more…direct approach. Instructors get one pupil at a time. When we feel confidant they know enough, they get their license and we let them go. In general, it takes a year or two. My record is six months. And said student was able to take on an instructor and win.

Due to my skill level, I only get assigned the more…prestigious students. Our richer clients want quick results. Results that I can provide. And I'm not cheap. I've been working here for five years, and I've made a small fortune. But don't think I'm greedy. Most of that money goes to charities. Some even goes to my aspiring students, who need money to start their journeys.

At the moment, I'm teaching a nice young girl named Emily. She has talent, but she needs to work on her self esteem. She tended to fade into the background. As her instructor, it is my job to drag her back out. It isn't easy.

You may be wondering, 'Why is he tense when he's alone?' Well, my father made a lot of enemies. Many of them want to use me to get to him. You may also be wondering how I'm more than I seem to be. To explain that, I have to explain my lineage.

My father was a changeling. A very powerful one. My mother, was a Pokémon. A Latias. I inherited some of my father's abilities, but my mother's genes were more powerful than his human ones. I am, in truth, a Latios. But I have the ability to turn human at will. Only my parents and my sister know about my true form, my true power. My sister shares in my abilities, she to can become human.

From a young age, I was intrigued with the concept of Pokémon battles. Not from the Pokémon's point of view, but the human's. I studied every technique, every strategy, and I learned how to combine them into new ones. Angel, on the other hand, preferred the adrenaline rush of the fight, she preferred it from the Pokémon's standpoint.

When I was fifteen, I came across Drachä, and decided that I wanted to teach others how to fight the way I did. If there were more tough trainers in the world, would the sport not be more fun?

I had a way with people, so naturally the academy couldn't turn me away. They were new, and short on instructors at the time. I was assigned to a 'remedial' student. The next year, he was one of the best to have been passed in academy history.

Angel has a very different occupation from mine. She is a gardener. And according to some of her clients, her presence make flowers on the verge of death reanimate. Which is, actually, true. She has a gift.

We live together in a small, unassuming house in the country, close to the flowers she loves. While I have money, getting a larger house would attract unwanted attention. Something I preferred not to have.

Well, that's all there is to explain about my past, and soon the present and future. My life is convoluted, and yes, I _can _breach the fourth wall. Another of my great qualities. But I haven't told you what I look like, have I?

Angel and I share the same black hair, and we both have fair skin. Her eyes are golden, whereas I have blue eyes. She is 5'8, while I am 6'0. We both have a fair amount of muscle, having trained our frail human bodies to a point where only the strongest of humans could overpower us. She tended to wear pink and blue, while I was almost always wearing black. The colour suits me!

Shall we go to real time? I'm starting to dislike this monologue.

**DO AS HE COMMANDS!**

I sighed, leaning back against the wall. "One more time, I dare you." Emily rolled her eyes at me, tossing the red ball she was holding at me. I sighed again, sidestepping the toss. "You need to work on your aim." She smiled suddenly, and I dodged an expertly thrown ball, which she had deflected of the side wall beside me.

"I suppose you've got aim down…" I pushed off the wall, standing up straight. Around us, the cafeteria was full of students who were eating. Emily, who had already eaten, was passing the time with me. She was to shy to ask anyone else if they wanted to hang out. I was more than happy to help her on that front, I generally stay away from the others.

I was expecting a visit from Angel, who had promised to meet my new student before she passed the course. She did that with all of them. I wanted to see how Emily would react to my sister, who, although being more imposing than me (she's stronger than me too), had the people skills of a priest. Most people trusted her almost right away. Call it a social experiment.

I was watching the doors, waiting for her, which Emily picked up on. "Waiting for someone?" I nodded, still watching. They opened, admitting to burly looking men in black suits. My eyes narrowed, and I reached for my knife. Always come prepared.

I looked over at Emily, judging the distance to the doors at the same time. "Emily," I said. "Go get more food. You look hungry." She looked at me, confused, but noticed that I was looking away. She followed my gaze, and spotted the two men. She nodded, running off. I looked over at her, then headed out the doors to the courtyard.

It was cold outside, and I was forced to walk through to the exits. Halfway there, the door behind me slammed open. The two men started out after me, loosening the ties around their necks. One was cracking his knuckles. I pulled the knife concealed in pocket free, the steel blade shined ominously.

The men picked up speed, throwing their jackets off. A adopted a defensive stance. My father taught me martial arts. The two were rippling with muscle, clearly falling under the 'strongest of humans' category. I would have to play this out carefully. The two stopped, a few feet away. They were tall, easily six and a half feet. The knife in my hand seemed like a pin compared to them. But a pin used right…

"Lynx? Lynx Olivara? We need to talk." The simple fact that they new my last name confirmed that they knew my father. Almost everyone called me Instructor Lynx, or just Lynx. I nodded, bringing the knife up. "I don't want any trouble." I said. They chuckled.

They rushed forward, one grabbing my knife arm and twisting it down, the other grabbing me in a chokehold. I jumped up, kicking the one in front of me away, before flipping over the one still holding on to me, landing lightly and stabbing him in the shoulder. He screamed in pain.

The one with an intact shoulder ran at me again, this time holding a massive Ka-bar knife. I sighed, sidestepping a stab and grabbing the man's arm in the process. He stumbled slightly, giving me the opportunity to knee his elbow. The arm bent back, into a position the human anatomy wasn't supposed to utilise. The man screamed in pain.

I kicked him away, sheathing my knife in the process. "Go home. I don't have time to deal with you two." I turned away, a found myself staring into a mob of students. I managed a slight smile. "Family business?"

**LATER THAT DAY!**

"Really, do you expect anyone to believe that?" My sister, always the logical thinker. "It's the truth, isn't it?" She frowned, nodded, and gave up. "You win this round, Lynx, but do you really think that they will let you keep teaching? You're dangerous." I thought for a minute, deciding that I really didn't want people afraid of me. "If they don't trust me, we leave."

She nodded, as being a gardener, she could work anywhere. I had the same advantage, but I had a larger record in the general populace. Were this to get out, I would be banned from any major Academies. My career would be shot if that happened.

"If we have to leave, I'm going to hunt down whoever sent those two. If my hunch is right, _Infinus _remnants are after us. That's not surprising, after what our parents and their friends did to them." Angel smiled. "Maybe we'll get to see everyone again." She said.

I nodded, glancing at my watch. It was almost midnight. Sighing, I went to my bedroom. I stood in front of a mirror for a moment, and then I closed my eyes. Relaxing, I willed my body to revert to its natural form. When I opened my eyes, a Latios was staring back at me.

The feeling of weightlessness always unnerved me. I suppose I take after my father in that regard. For the moment, I put my unease to rest. I had bigger worries. Drifting over to the bed, I resigned myself to fate.

**THE NEXT DAY!**

"Mr…Lynx? I'm afraid our records don't contain your last name. In any case, you have been ruled too dangerous to stay here. Those two may very well take legal action against us, something we cannot allow to happen. For the time being, you are suspended from your teaching. Should we ever consider your return, we will be sure to inform you."

I walked sullenly from the headmaster's room, past my colleagues and their students. Strangely, Emily was nowhere to be found. Even the two men who had assaulted me had shown up, and they began following me as I left, both bearing scars from the day before. They looked like they were itching for a fight, but this time, I had Angel with me.

She came out of nowhere, around a corner perhaps. Wearing her customary pink t-shirt and golden jeans, she looked nothing like a threat to the hulking men behind me. Oh, how wrong they were!

I spun, yanking my knife out at the same time. Angel stood beside me, and although the men were near to a foot taller than her, she had a rather, profound effect on them. "Angel? The gardener? You need to get some girl to handle your problems?" Sighing, I hurled my knife, which embedded itself in the man's shoulder.

Angel ran forwards, grabbing the other man's arm and twisting it behind his back. She kicked the back of his knees, forcing him to the ground. "He's my brother, get it? Families stick together." The first man, still trying to pry the knife free, didn't notice as I snuck up behind him. A swift jab to the side of his neck knocked him out.

Angel pressed the man she was holding into a wall. "I've fought worse than you by age ten. I've been a tae-kwon-doe black belt since I was thirteen. And when you mess with my family, you damn well better be ready to fight me too!" She grasped his neck, and the man went limp.

She laughed, shaking her head slowly. "It's not the same, you know. Humans aren't nearly as fun to fight as…our kind." I laughed with her. "No strategy at all!" I said, exhilarated. Adrenaline released after the fight must have tipped me over the edge.

Kneeling down next to one of the men, I reached into his front pockets, pulling out a business card. Down at the bottom, I could see a company logo. A medical company. _North Wind medical supplies Inc._ one of the biggest manufacturers' of medicines and medical equipment. And a known criminal organization.

While several, powerful groups of people knew of the atrocities they committed, no one had the guts to attack them. We needed the medical supplies, especially in the forlorn lands of The East. The government had stopped all attempts to stop their experiments.

I turned to Angel. "Looks like we get to take down a medical manufacturer."

It took us most of the day to get to the North Wind headquarters, which coincidentally happened to be in this town. Perhaps not the coincidence I thought. The outside was unguarded, as a company with few enemies didn't need a host of guards.

I had little doubt in my mind that _North Wind_ was an actual, fully functional company. Not a front. But, they were a puppet company, left behind by _Infinus _as a last resort. Now, remnants had taken control again, leading to the massive controversy of the entire thing.

"Genetic experimentation. Disgusting." We were seated at a bus stop, on the opposite side of the road from the North Wind's headquarters. A local police officer was walking around, making sure nobody tried to gain access to the building. "Government legalities don't apply to non-humans." I muttered, a plan already coming to mind. It was risky, but had a good chance of working.

Angel, beside me, had a taser in one hand. Watching the cars pass for a moment, I continued to work out the flaws in my plan, perfecting it. "Hey, Angel? I think I found a way in…" I explained the details to her, being careful to note the disadvantages and risk factor. She agreed, saying it was our best bet.

We ran across the street, pausing at the chain link fence around the _North Wind's_ compound. The policeman was watching us closely, making sure we didn't try anything. I nodded to him, flashing an evil smile towards Angel. She caught on, and we walked briskly towards him. We passed him, forcing him to turn to keep watching us.

The guard decided to watch me, thinking Angel as innocent as her namesake. He was very wrong. Before he could turn all the way, Angel's arm shot out, pressing the taser into the officer's side. He screamed in pain, dropping quickly. We started moving faster, darting inside the gate before anyone else could notice us.

"I don't remember being this good at this kind of thing. Remind me when we did this last time?" Angel shrugged, checking through her camera-like memory. "Three years ago? No, you weren't there for that. Five? Yeah, five years ago, when we busted into the police station."

I laughed, as I always did, remembering the things we did on our off time. We fit the bill of large scale vigilantes, upholding the law where police officers can't. Or won't. Stupid corrupt law enforcement. Never do what's right.

"Time to begin phase two!" Angel laughed, hitting me good naturedly in the arm. "Stop trying to be a movie hero. You're enough of a hero on your own." I pulled out my knife, flipping it over and over, grinning. "Me? I'm just your run of the mill teacher!" We broke down into laughter, forgetting the reason we were here for just a moment.

The moment almost cost us our lives. While we were laughing, a man covered in a silver jumpsuit snuck around us, deliberately giving us many times to spot him. He drew a katana, jumped, and flew towards us.

My latent psychic defences detected the anomaly, and I spun just in time to stab him through the heart. He went limp. The sword clattered to the ground. I wrenched the knife out of the man's chest, and he fell heavily to the ground. I bent down to examine the sword.

It was made of some kind of steel, with a transparent blade. "What is this? Glass?" Angel had knelt next to me, and she brushed her hands against the odd material. There was an audible zap, and she was flung backwards. "It's a protometal, designed to hold on to a specific element. Careful."

What caught my attention the most were a pair of logos near the hilt of the blade. One was of a crossing scalpel and syringe; the other appeared to be three swords crossing to make three hollows. One was filled by a cloak and dagger; the others had been depressed into the blade itself. The universal sign of emptiness.

Picking herself up, Angel walked over to me, still covered in dust. "History one-oh-one. This logo'" she pointed towards the syringe and scalpel. "Is the _Infinus _logo. The other one, I don't know. Dad only mentioned it once, and the words were Latin. It was something to do with horses. But, the logo has been modified; it used to have those other spaces filled."

"So, _Infinus _is here. And it looks like they want us as guinea pigs." Angel shuddered. "That's not all they want out of us. We are unique, and _Infinus_ wants to make us run of the mill." I cleaned my knife on the grass, staining it green. "So let's not keep them waiting."

We managed to get inside without further difficulty, and a kindly looking woman offered us a tour of the building. Since it would likely lead us to our target, we accepted. She led us down some stair, through numerous hallways, and into a large lab. She left us there, saying she had things to do. I pulled my knife slowly from its sheath, expecting trouble. And I was not disappointed.

Three men, all in dark tuxedoes, entered the room behind us. They were all buff, nearly breaking the seams of their suits. I rolled my eyes at them, flashing my knife menacingly. They paid me no heed, however. They seemed intent on Angel. Running on instinct, I moved in front of her.

They laughed menacingly, drawing knives. Big ones. Covered in a light protometal coat. "Angel!" I hissed, handing her my knife. "Run!" She put a hand on my shoulder, but I pushed it away. "Go!" She sighed, and ran off.

I turned to the three men, already reformulating my plan. If I could distract them long enough… No, a distraction wouldn't work. I would have to take them out. But outnumbered and outclassed, I had little chance. Angel had always been better at hand to hand combat. So, I decided I would have to even the playing field.

I closed my eyes, relaxing my body slightly. To anyone else, I would have appeared to glow. Natural defence mechanism. Don't ask. When my eyes opened, I was floating. I felt my psychic abilities flood free of their constraint, and my eyes tinged purple as I searched for any other surprises.

The three men and I were the only people in the room. For the moment, that was enough planning. Although I detested fighting humans with this unfair advantage, it had to be done. I was willing to give it my all if it meant my family could live in peace.

They charged me, knives held away from their bodies. I laughed, floating higher. One of them snickered, and pulling of his jacket, revealed several throwing knives strapped to his body. He drew one, threw it, and I felt my shoulder start to burn. The pain was intense. "Protometal!" I spat out, trying to blink the pain away.

The knife had lodged deep, and the pain was spreading. My vision had a red tint, and black spots danced in my eyes. I felt my breathing become laboured, and I started to drift downward. If I didn't act fast, I would be knocked unconscious, and I would be captured.

I felt my psychic power petering out, and I began to feel dizzy. Falling on my last drop of strength, I lashed out. There were three muffled thumps, the sound made by three bodies hitting solid metal. After that, my vision faded to black.

Yet I still managed to hear a muffled explosion, and five pairs of heavy boots clank into the room. And voices, many voices. "Who is he?" A female voice spoke up after that, one I knew all to well. "That's Lynx. His dad and I go way back. Let's get him out of here."

Then everything went quiet.

* * *

**Anyone who guesses who that girl is gets an early preview of the next chapter! Same goes to anyone who can guess who Lynx really is! Ie: Who his dad is, who his mom is, etc.**

**Protometal DOES NOT EXIST. It is simply something I thought up in my spare time.**

**As I stated before on my profile page, I will NOT submit any Lynx Academy chapter below 3,500 words. That way, I can keep it at a relatively high average words/chapter.**

**Also, you may be asking how I thought up the whole teacher concept. To be honest, I dreamed it up.**

**Until next time, WEAPON is out!**


	2. Beginnings 2

**Alpha Squad**

Darkness surrounded me. Unconsciousness surrounded me. And through the haze of darkness and unconsciousness, I could see people. I knew one of them, but the rest…

And I heard voices. All of them had a commanding air to them, powerful, yet humble. "Is he waking up?" Another chimed in after that. "I think so…" I knew that voice! I struggled to remember who it belonged to, my mind not responding very well to stimulus.

I felt cold, as if I was on metal. I tried to bring myself back to consciousness, but my efforts were failing. I felt a burning feeling all around my body, and I gasped awake.

I was in my human form, sitting on a metal table. A medical table. My clothing did little to stop the cold table from cooling me down, making me something less than comfortable. I checked to make sure it was still there, which it thankfully was.

Hopping down from the table, I surveyed the six people arrayed before me. Four men, two women. All but one of the women were looking away, politely. I laughed at them. They thought I couldn't keep my clothes through transformations!

The girl laughed with me, shaking my hand. "Lynx, do you remember me? It's been a while." I gave her a once over, before nodding. "It has been a while, Alice?" She laughed again, pushing my shoulder playfully.

I heard a grunt from behind her, and peeked over to see the other people looking me over. One of them shook his head. "No wonder he lost." I narrowed my eyes at the comment, and in a flash I was at his neck, choking him.

Four gasps filled the room, and Alice nodded sadly. "Be careful what you say around Lynx. Insult his sister, and he'll rip your throat out." The man, who I guessed was the leader, grabbed at my arm. I kicked him into the nearest wall.

Wiping my hands off, I turned towards the others. "Let that be a lesson in humility. Insult me, my family, or my friends, and I'll take you out." They nodded, and one went to help the leader get up.

Turning back to Alice, I asked her where we were. "Alpha base, at the moment. We're in the East." I was shocked to hear that they had taken me so far from home. "And why, oh why, did you bring me here?"

She took a while to answer. "We…we need your help. Something powerful is here, and we think it may have connections to _Infinus_. Your father said he couldn't help us, that he was busy with something. Tal and Silver have long since dropped off the maps. And we can't contact Phoenix. You are our last choice, our last option."

I nodded, turning back to the others. "And they are…?" She grunts, walking past me. "She indicates the one I thought to be leader. "Sergeant Major Carl Noitave." She then gestures at a man with brown hair and grey eyes. "Staff Sergeant Travis Daniels."

She pointed to another man, who had huge muscles, reddish hair, and golden eyes. "Corporal Elliot Jones." Then, she nodded towards the last man, who had blond hair, dark purple eyes, and a slight beard. "And that, is 1st Lieutenant John Davidson"

I examined the man, who was patient enough to allow it. Perhaps I was jumping the gun a little, though, because he threw a punch while I was distracted. I managed to deflect it, countering with lightning speed. I was careful not to hit the Lieutenant, however. I stopped just in front of his face.

I withdrew my hand, shifting back to a more comfortable position. The man laughed. "Quick to fight, fast, strong, smart. An expert at close quarters combat, proficient with a knife. All in all, a great young fighter." He nodded his approval. In the corner of the room, Carl made an exasperated noise, turning away.

I turned to Alice. "And what rank are you?" I asked. She shrugged. "Gunnery Sergeant. I was in the marines before, so I guess my rank carries over." I nodded, reviewing the chain of command in my head. Alice was third on the list, following after Carl and John. Damn, I thought. And here I was hoping for benefits.

I turned to the arrayed soldiers, deciding to be frank. "I'll help you, but none of this chain of command shit. I do what I want, when I want. And If you have a problem with that…" I flexed to emphasize my point. "Moving on, I'm going to need new knives. Two, high quality, no bigger than Mark three. Preferably, mark one." And then it hit me.

"Where the hell is my sister?"

**Angel**

"Touch me and die!" The man just laughed. "How do you expect to kill me, unarmed?" I lunged forward, planning on hitting his stomach. He never moved, yet I managed only to hit open air.

My eyes widened as I felt someone kick me between the shoulders, slamming me into the wall. I came away with a slight nosebleed. I could hear laughter from somewhere behind me. Close behind me.

I whipped around, intent on smacking him across the face. Instead, he caught my arm, bending it at the elbow before kicking my solar plexus. I was slammed into the wall again, hitting my head. I collapsed to the floor, beaten.

"Let that be a lesson in humility." I had the strength to raise my head, looking at his cloaked body. "Who are you?" He smiled grimly, flicking a button on the door control. Just before he stepped out of the room, I heard him respond. "My name is Wraith." And then the door sealed shut.

And I was left alone in the dark.

**Lynx**

"To an extent, we know she is in the base where we found you, but we can't go back. And neither can you. If they gain access to your genetic code, who knows what could happen?" I exercise restraint, wanting to deck both Alice for leaving Angel behind, and John for telling me I can't go back to help.

Elliot passed me a small package, while John continued to explain the situation. I ignore him, checking the contents of the 'gift'. Inside, I found a Mark one combat knife, military fatigues, and a note.

Looking up, I found the 1st Lieutenant watching me. "Now that I have your attention, I have a mission for you. And yes, it _will_ help you get your sister back." Nodding, I tuck the package under my arm, intrigued.

"We have discovered an _Infinus _remnant base on a remote island just south of here. Commercial military groups can't get in there without help from navy and airforce cover, which is almost impossible to get. Both the navy and airforce are just starting to form; they're not even five years old at the moment."

"Another problem is the island's geography. The water around it, in a very large radius, is shallow, covered in rocks. And the island has some kind of massive anti-aircraft gun on top, blasting out our recon sorties."

"So, we are going to send in alpha squad. You will be para-dropping into a battlefield, and you will be cut off from allied forces after that." The most obvious question came to mind after that. "And what side am I on?"

He just chuckled. "After Tal showed us the threat _Infinus_ posed, the war went on standby. We're all working together now, trying to stop them. Did you know that they have almost fifty PMCs working for them? And more than a thousand super-soldiers."

"Because of that, we have to send the best of the best in. Your team-mates are the finest military units we have available, and Alice was in one of those super soldier programs herself. With you on that team, we are confident you will succeed."

"And what's in it for me?" I asked, pointing out the obvious. He shrugged. "Help us out here, and we'll help you get your sister back."

* * *

"Alpha team, prepare for drop." I rolled my eyes at the pilot's formality. "Dropping in 3." The door at the rear of the cabin slides open slowly, and with a sigh of frustration I slam it down with telekinesis. "2." The other team members clamber to their feet, wearing heavy armour.

"1." They rush to the rear of the plane, crouching at the end of the ramp. I pull my knife, flipping it a few times, and get a running start. "0. Drop!" I leap over my team-mates, throwing my knife in the process. They dive after me.

The night air whips by my face, ruffling my clothing. No armour for me, to restricting. I flip over onto my back, looking back at my companions. All four were encumbered by heavy armour, along with parachutes. I rolled my eyes at the crude human technology, and float on the breeze.

This isn't the first time I've been up this high. I used to do this all the time, just fly up and freefall. But then I became a teacher. Sometimes I regret that choice. Others, not so much.

About a kilometre above ground, the soldiers behind me pull their parachutes. Laughing at their receding forms, I continued my freefall, loving the speed and exhilaration. Then, I turned back to the ground, which was only a stone's throw away by now. And then I slammed into it.

To anyone watching me, it would have appeared as if I had exploded on contact. In truth, I hadn't even touched the ground. I had pulled off a very tricky manoeuvre called momentum cancelling, switching rapidly between forms before impact to soften the landing. I landed with less force than a feather.

A nearby guard looked over at me, reaching for his radio at the same time. I heard a sickening, stabbing noise as my well thrown knife hit him through the skull. Even from a plane, I had pinpoint accuracy.

Walking over to the corpse, I pulled the knife sharply from his head, wiping it on my forearm. Behind me, I heard four rapid clunks as the rest of my team hit the ground. Rolling my eyes at their noise making, I continued farther into the compound.

Ahead of me, I could see several more guards. All of them were wearing tri-optic goggles, and they were all wielding large weapons of some kind. I didn't recognize them, but I could feel that they were dangerous.

I ducked behind a conveniently placed crate. I pulled the silent pistol I had been given for this mission, and crept around to the other side of the crate. Using what little of my psychic power I could utilise while human, I scanned for life forms.

I was surprised at the sheer number of them, with more than five hundred of them on the surface, most of which were guards, and many thousand more in the base proper, deep under the ground.

Popping around the corner for a fraction of a second, I tossed a tiny, black stun module at the ground, getting it close to the guards. But before I could get back to cover, one of them spotted me.

He opened fire, eliciting a huge roar from what sounded like a machine gun. But the gun he was holding had two barrels, and fired much faster than the standard machine gun.

I dove back into cover, triggering the stun module at the same time. There was a loud thump as the air around the module super condensed, knocking out anyone around it. Or so I thought.

The firing didn't stop, and I heard several more weapons join in. I heard clangs as they shot the crate I was behind, trying to shoot through it. I thought about firing back, but I knew I was outmatched.

Out of nowhere, I heard a strange, gurgling cry. I spun, only to see Travis, covered in bullet wounds. The high calibre machine guns had shredded through his heavy armour. He dropped noisily to the ground, dead.

Sparing no time to mourn, I ducked out of cover just long enough to fire off two shots. Despite my inexperience with firearms, I managed to bag two of the guards. They fell, oddly silent. If they had withstood the effects of a stun module, they had to have been wearing heavy, pressurized armour.

I ducked back into cover, revaluating my strategy. I couldn't charge them, but if I stayed put the machine guns would chew through the metal of the crate. If that happened…

Out of nowhere, I heard a high pitched electrical noise. There was an explosive gunshot, ten times louder than any other I had ever heard. A huge flash of blue light. Another explosion sounded, this time much closer to me.

I rolled out of cover, not realizing that the firing had stopped moments before. I came up with my knife and gun in front of me. I was expecting three, very angry men dressed in black to be waiting for me.

Instead, there was one woman, in a skin tight black and red outfit. Her face was obstructed by a helmet, which curved down all the way to her neck. Her visor was unpolarized at the eyes, but she was too far away for me to see their colour.

Before I could get closer, she jumped onto the roof of a building behind her, disappearing from sight. I decided not to chase after her.

Alice, Carl, and Elliot had finally managed to catch up to me, and all three groaned at the sight of Travis on the ground. Alice picked up his rifle, and pressed it into my hands. I shoved it back at her with enough force to crack the magazine still attached to the weapon.

Holstering my gun, I strode over to the building that the mysterious woman had vanished on. A small metal door was the only distinguishing thing about it. There was no handle on the door, so I resorted to kicking it in. A long set of stairs ran down into the shadows, very far down.

"Who's first?"

**Angel**

"Torture me as long as you want, I'm not going to respond to you." I was slumped against a wall, my body covered in electrical burns. The fuckers had the nerve to torture me, knowing full well that I had nothing they wanted.

The man across from me, the average grunt, apparently, just laughed. "What makes you think we want something out of you?" He said, his voice brimming with acid. "We just want to pay your father back. We owe him a lot!"

The only thing keeping me from snapping his neck was the line of metal bars separating us. Or so I liked to believe. I had learned early on that he was far, far stronger than I was, despite having little in the way of muscle.

He leaned forward, scratching the back of his head nervously. "But even we have morals. Not good ones, but morals none the less. I managed to convince the higher ups not to keep torturing you."

I walked over to the bars, standing just in front of them with my arms crossed. "And why should I believe you?" I asked irritably. He shrugged, pulling some papers out of his pocket. "We don't have a grudge against you. Just your father. So, we plan on using you as bait."

He passed me the documents, and I recognized them as official. My picture was in the upper left corner, along with many diagnostics about my relations and personality. Down near the bottom of the second paper, there were several yes/no questions. One of which, detainment, was answered 'yes', whereas torture was listed as 'no'.

The man leaned forward again. "And if it were up to me, we would be letting you go. But, the higher ups aren't exactly keen on that idea, so no dice." I tossed the papers at him, turning away. "If you're looking for a date, I'm a little tied up at the moment." I said humourlessly.

But in the end, I turned back to face him. "But I'll take a rain check, if you want."

**Lynx**

The stairs went on for what seemed like forever. And even at the bottom, I could see nothing but a smooth, unbroken wall. What I failed to notice was that the stairs ended in a room slightly wider than the stairs themselves, allowing an elevator to be built into the side of the stairway.

It was Elliot that noticed this, pointing it out to the rest of us. At first, no one believed him, but upon closer inspection I found a slight seam in a rough door shape. Perfect for an elevator.

At that moment, the elevator dinged open, full of a large squad of guards. All of us froze, including them. I backed away from the elevator, behind my armoured squad-mates. Before any guns could be raised, however, the elevator exploded.

One of the guards was blown into Carl, knocking the Sergeant Major into me. I managed to keep standing, taking the full weight of the armour Carl was wearing on my arms. The other guards were vaporized.

Alice growled, examining the elevator shaft. "Semtex. Nasty stuff. Took the entire car out. There's no way down now." I raised an eyebrow, stepping up to examine the shaft myself. "You guys wait here. I'll be right back. Oh, and Carl?" He looked up, scowling. "You still owe me another knife."

At that, I fell back into the vertical tunnel.

**Angel**

"Unethical treatment of captives in war time. That is a violation of the Geneva convention." Wraith laughed in the grunt's face. "Geneva doesn't exist anymore, Mark. I'm pretty sure they were destroyed by the continental shift. Just like everyone else, I might add."

Mark sighed, pressing himself back against the wall. Spineless idiot. Maybe he would learn to fight for what he believed in one day. As for now…

I was so fixated on Mark that I failed to notice that Wraith was standing right beside me, almost laughing at my inattentiveness. I heard the chuckle, and almost jumped out of my skin. Which is actually easier than you'd think for a psychic. Painful stuff.

I spun, trying to backhand the cloaked man, but ended up hitting a wall instead. I did manage to crack the wall, but my hand started to burn, and I could see one of my knuckles was broken. I set it into its proper place with telekinesis, not wanting to get any other help to heal it.

"You're a slow learner, aren't you?" He pushed me against, the wall, drawing a knife slowly from somewhere in his cloak. The sharp end gleamed in the pale light of the prison. And then everything seemed to blue shift.

**Lynx**

The elevator shaft didn't go as far down as I had expected, going less than forty feet down. In my elaborate back-flip-dive manoeuvre, I had failed to see the bottom as it closed in on me. I ended up landing face first, smashing my nose.

While it didn't break, it still started to bleed and it hurt like hell. I stood lightly, covering my face. It _really _hurt. A quick psychic burst stopped most of the bleeding, but I couldn't numb any pain in the head area. Might cause brain damage or just temporary retardation. Either way…

The hallway that connected to the elevator was short, no more than twenty feet. At the end, it branched off in several directions. In the middle, I saw the woman who had shown up before, this time sans helmet, sitting at the side of the hallway.

Long, chestnut hair flowed around her, and I wondered how it could possibly have been hidden in the tiny helmet she had been wearing before. Next to her, a railgun was resting against the wall. I can't be sure, but I could have sworn that the wall was buckling under the weight of the weapon.

I raised my gun, still weary despite the fact that she showed no signs of aggression. I had a sneaking suspicion that I had seen her before, of something like that. It's a psychic thing.

Before I could say anything, a group of guards rushed down the hall, all of them brandishing those two-barrelled machine guns. Before I could even move, the woman was on her feet, railgun in her hands.

I could almost see the looks on the guards' faces as the railgun fired, despite their helmets. There is a pretty universal look for 'Shiiiiiii-', and I was envisioning it as the round exploded in the middle of them, unleashing pure kinetic power onto the group.

Most were vaporized; two were blow into the wall with awesome force, leaving large red spots where they hit. The last one went flying backwards, into the last wall in the hallway. All around the explosion's ground zero, electrical burns and scorch marks covered the floor, walls, and ceiling.

The woman turned, and I noticed her eyes were an odd shade of blue. Almost like electricity. "So," I asked. "What's you're name?" She shrugged, and I realized she wasn't much older than me; no…she was younger than me. Nineteen and in combat? Not to mention her obvious experience, and her ability to use a railgun.

"My name is Emma. But you may know me better as Volt."


	3. Beginnings 3

**Ah, Volt. One of my favorite characters. Good to see her back. **

**In other news, I'm going to essentially segment this story into three-chapter arcs. Just so I can keep it going for as long as possible. I'm hoping for at least twenty five chapters, but you never know what might come up.**

**This first one is now called 'Beginnings', just so you know.**

**Memoir**

_*Flashback*_

"_This, is my final mission" What thoughts were going through my head? Were they suicidal, or the thoughts of a martyr? Deep, or just retarded? The weight of so many rested on my shoulders, something I had never felt before. Ethan certainly had changed me._

_I pulled the trigger, mindless of the consequences, and watched the fireworks. Or tried to, anyway. Because as the railgun fired off its fatal round, I felt something grasp my shoulder. And then I was gone._

_And I was suddenly surrounded by grass. Lush, green grass. I turned to face my 'savoir', who was looking forlornly into the distance. "Wraith, why me?" The question burned through the air, making him flinch._

"_If you only knew…"_

_*End Flashback*_

"But you may know me better as Volt."

My eyes widened, and I instinctively stepped back, raising my gun. This was _her!_ My mind began to go crazy, crossing through more than a dozen different attack scenarios. Every time, it drew up the conclusion that I would lose. But could I just leave the one who had nearly killed my father alive, and unhurt?

My thoughts were interrupted when she raised her hand, signalling for silence. I could hear clanking from down the hall, as if from a robot. The noise stopped for a moment, and then resumed, growing fainter. Volt visibly relaxed, lowering the gun I hadn't even seen her raise.

She looked at me, some strange emotion crossing her face. I couldn't understand it, and likely never would. Raziel had always been the empathic one. Lucky bastard got all the girls. And he was a year and a half younger than me!

Seeing that I had zoned out, she shook her head. "Just like your father. Zero attention span." Her words brought me back to reality, and I had to fight the urge to shoot her. She had saved me twice, after all.

Before I could ask her any of the questions that burned in the back of my mind, she started to talk again. "Listen, I know you won't trust me, but we have to get out of here." She held up an explosive detonator. "Game, set, match." Several explosions crumpled the hallway.

"Yeah, that sounds good…"

**

* * *

Am I lucky, unlucky, or neither? I never can figure that out. I get kidnapped by an armed group, conscripted, and sent to the biggest battleground in the world, and at the same time I get a chance for revenge. Bittersweet revenge, but revenge non-the-less. And then I figure out that my sister has likewise been kidnapped, except she had been sent to the opposite end of the world, by a different armed group, and was likely being tortured. And now I have _another _chance at revenge.**

Well, I suppose you also have to factor in my own hard-headedness, the fact that I attempted to attack the world's foremost soldier and weapons development agency, without backup and no actual experience fighting real opponents. I don't remember calling myself a genius at any point, but I usually wasn't _that _stupid. Another point for Raziel, the group's resident genius.

While I was comparing myself to Raziel, who was widely regarded as my friendly rival, Volt and I ran our way through the base to the exit. All the while explosions echoed through the base. I marvelled at Volt's speed and stamina, she quickly outdistanced even me, yet never showed any strain.

While I was… *cough cough* admiring her, *cough cough*, I had to remind myself of the things she had done not only to my family, but to hundreds of others. She was a murderer, an experiment, and an overall bad person. Yet some forbidden thoughts managed to wedge themselves into my head, refusing to leave.

Sometimes, I'm pretty sure that I'm unlucky. Others, I think that I create most of that bad luck. Either way…

If only I was like Raziel.

**

* * *

After getting over my less than enthusiastic thoughts of Raziel (they went on longer than I let on, trust me), I finally realized that Volt was leading me _away _from the elevator shaft that I had dropped down.**

"You do realize that we're going the wrong way, right?" I realized my mistake the moment I spoke. Volt spun around, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face. "You do know that not everyone has the ability to fly, right?" Despite myself, I found _that _particular manoeuvre quite…charming.

A thought struck me. What about Alice? I wouldn't, couldn't leave them. "Shouldn't we go back for the rest of my squad?" I asked, almost sheepishly. I could have sworn my voice cracked. And I thought I was through with that whole thing. Damn. Raziel three, me zero.

Volt stamped her foot angrily, thinking for a moment. For a girl more than twice my age, she seemed so…young, childish. _Infinus _definitely knew how to screw with peoples minds.

"Don't you have some kind of communication device? Headset, radio, anything?" Strangely enough, I hadn't been assigned any way to get in touch with my squad. Wonderful. Someone was working against me, and the more I thought about it the truer it got.

Sending me, a 'priority package' in the eyes of many, under armed and untrained into a live fire zone, with no armour or means of communicating with the others of my team seemed logical at one point, to someone who didn't like me. I hate people like that.

"Aren't you psychic? A mentalist?" I shook my head. I was a powerful psychic in many regards, but Mentalism was a concept I couldn't control. Which was ironic, considering my parents and my sister were quite adept at Mentalist conversing.

She growled in frustration. "We'll just have to hope their not stupid. I've left a back door open, and we don't have much time to get out of here." I started to turn back, but she grabbed my arm. "Don't be the hero, Lynx. They'll get out. Trust me."

For a moment, my temper flared. How was I to trust in a woman who had made multiple attempts on my father's life? She must have noticed, because she sighed. "Lynx, please. Don't wallow away in the past."

I looked away, still angry, but nodded my agreement. She walked off, and I reluctantly followed.

**

* * *

**

Getting back to the surface was easier than I expected, considering the circumstances. Volt had indeed left a back door open, in the form of a small, militarized jeep and a service tunnel. The tunnel, she said, lead to a hanger where she had stashed a state of the art helicopter.

Unfortunately, the tunnel was long, very long, and the seconds ticked by as the reactor system continued to move irreversibly into a meltdown. With any luck, that meltdown would wait until we had taken off, but that wasn't likely.

The jeep was fast, faster than anything I had ever ridden in before. I judged the speed to be roughly two hundred km/h. But my favourite part was the gun. A moderate sized, thirty-three millimetre Light Anti-aircraft Gun, with four barrels and a nice ammunition display. When I had first hopped on, it had read seventeen thousand rounds, most of which were likely hidden underneath the gun itself.

The service tunnel was full of _Infinus _soldiers, several of which were wielding the heavy machine guns I had seen before. Without thinking, I gunned them down. The rate of fire was phenomenal, depleting the ammunition capacity by nearly thirty percent in just a minute, although I was strangely disappointed by the nearly silent discharges.

The troops dropped by the dozens, but before we were even halfway through the tunnel, which had started to slope drastically upwards, the ammo conserved in the jeep had been completely depleted. Swearing lightly to myself, I crept up the speeding vehicle into the passenger seat.

Volt looked over at me. "Out already? Damn, I thought I cranked down the Rate of Fire enough. Whatever," She passed me a handheld machine gun. "This will work just as well."

The pathetic hunk of metal she handed to me looked nowhere near as powerful as the gun I had just been using, but that hardly mattered. The tunnel was virtually empty after that, the only soldier we saw was flattened under an overturned truck.

A blast door bigger than my house marked the end of the service tunnel. Volt looked over at me, and passed me a small, soft, rectangular packet. "_Eye eeh dee. _Plant it." Here words caused me to start. "Explosive? On the jeep?" Volt nodded slowly.

"Plant it, arm it, and when I say jump, _jump!_" Her voice was aggravated. Deciding not to press the issue, I thumbed a switch on the IED and dropped it onto the seat. Making sure it wouldn't fall out of the jeep, I grabbed the barrel of the LAAG on the rear of the jeep and used it to climb onto the back.

Somehow, the jeep accelerated, bearing down on the blast door even faster. Volt looked back, catching my eyes. She nodded slowly, although I later realized that I was simply perceiving the movements at a faster rate. Taking the hint, I leapt off the speeding jeep as it barrelled down on the door.

Just before the jeep hit the door, Volt jumped out as well. The two steel objects then collided, causing an enormous explosion. The shockwave threw me to the ground, and the heat wave caused blisters to form all over my back and arms.

Ignoring the minor pain, I trod up the unrealistically steep flooring to the hole the IED had blasted into the blast doors. "Damn, those things are like a meter thick… The hell did you put in that?" Volt shrugged. _"Infinus _has developed several unstable compounds and materials, ironically in research for tank armour capable of deflecting high velocity rounds. I stole a few and made that nice little package from hell."

Still amazed, I looked at the superheated, molten, and melted hole in the door. "All the way through, seven-meter diameter hole. Damn that's some really unstable shit…"

On the other end of the doors, a cavernous hanger opened up. Several airplanes and helicopters rested at various places throughout the room, although the closest vehicle was less than a stone's throw away from the hole Volt had blasted into the doors.

It was a matte black helicopter, all angles and planes. "A stealth helicopter?" I said, uncertain. She nodded. "The material that covers it does most of the work, but…" I noticed a gun in the open side door. Easily two meters long, the weapon seemed like an enormous rifle.

At the same time, it looked radically different. The muzzle and barrel were thicker around than my arm, and both had odd protrusions sticking out at odd angles. Small arcs of electricity arced along the weapon. The stock, which was huge itself, had an LCD screen, which highlighted heat signatures. A targeting crosshair overlaid the center of the screen.

Volt walked past me, climbing into the helicopter's cockpit. "You've got roughly twenty second before that reactor goes off. After that, the explosion will rocket towards us at roughly seven times the speed of sound. So get in!" Spurred on, I leapt onto the helicopter, which was farther off the ground than I had expected.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the helicopter started to float of the ground. I hardly noticed that the hanger doors were opened as we flew past them, mere moments before the incredible _boom _of the reactor exploding. Less than a split second after that, flames blasted out the hanger doors just below us.

The entire island seemed to flower outward, almost like a swelling boil. And then the entire thing vanished, replaced by bluish, semi-transparent flames. Even from far above the island, I could feel the heat and the shockwave. Had I not had such a strong grip on the strange mounted gun, I would have fallen from the chopper as it shook.

Even in the darkness, I could make out several dark shapes in the distance. "Enemy aircraft!" I shouted almost unconsciously, the sparse training I _had _been given kicking in. The shapes began to get bigger. "Bearing down on us, six, seven, and eight o'clocks high, five, four, and one o'clocks low!"

Several dim _whumps_ announced the launching of several rockets, which flew into the distance. Moments later, several of the approaching aircraft lit up, flames licking at their metal forms… And then the aircraft accelerated past the explosions, bearing down even faster on my chopper.

"Damnit! Lynx," Volt called back to me. "Use that cannon! Take those aircraft out!" I nodded dimly, slouching behind the too-short weapon, which was built for people shorter than myself. Taking aim at the closest aircraft, which was still little more than a dot, I depressed what I assumed was the trigger.

The instant the tiny piece of metal was depressed, a shudder ran through the helicopter. Before I even registered that, a metal slug the size of a pop can had passed through the airplane I had targeted. I watched as the round passed through the entire plane, and continued on as a faint blue streak.

The plane shuddered, the area around the bullet hole glowing a dim blue. For an instant, the entire thing hung, suspended in place. And then the entire thing exploded, and began the long descent into the ocean, far below. I realized with a start that the island which housed the _Infinus _base had completely disappeared, consumed by the ocean.

The other aircraft continued on their course, undeterred by the loss of their ally. I counted four helicopters and another plane. But the plane looked different from the one I had just shot down, slimmer… A jump jet. And it was blue. Most importantly, it had shifted course and was heading for the helicopter nearest it.

Shifting my focus from the strange airplane, I aimed the cannon at one of the helicopters, which was struggling to rise above ours. Again, a shudder ran through me, and again the slug crossed the distance between us in less than a second.

Just like the airplane before it, the helicopter shuddered and hung in the air for a moment before exploding. Whatever material the _Infinus _aircraft were made of, I mused, it had to be incredibly stable to survive that slug without exploding on contact.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the strange blue plane rocketed towards a helicopter, several small objects dropping off the wings. The missiles ignited, leaving charcoal streaks in the sky as they shot towards the errant helicopter.

The entire thing exploded, bright blues reds and yellows lighting up the dim air. A series of delayed explosions, likely from explosive ordinance the helicopter had been carrying, lit up the melting superstructure of the helicopter, making it appear skeletal. And then the entire thing just fell.

A radio next to me crackled to life. "Lynx? That you?" I recognized Alice's voice. "Yeah, it's me. How the hell did you guys get out of there?" I heard an inquisitive noise through the radio. "You weren't briefed on our evac transport? Well, somebody at command must really hate you. Oh shit-" The sound of an explosion carried over the radio.

Looking over, I saw a plume of smoke leaking out the back of the blue plane. And that it was being trailed closely by something…big. A gigantic silhouette, near invisible in the lightening sky. "What the hell…?" A series of flashes pulsed off the thing, and several yellowish objects lanced towards us.

"Incoming projectiles!" I honestly didn't know who had spoken. But less then a second later, bullets the size of bananas were streaking by my face. Several actually hit the helicopter, causing a sickening lurch. "Lynx! Take that thing out!" Volt sounded like she had lost her cool.

Taking aim as best I could at the massive gunship, I let loose with the cannon. I was surprised at how fast it could reload and fire, with barely three seconds between shots. Several dozen explosions flickered along the gunship's side. I even managed to hit one of the massive gun turrets, causing a huge explosion to ripple through the thing.

The stealth unit on the gunship tried to compensate for the sudden heat and vibration, and ultimately failed. The entirety of the aircraft flickered, and became completely visible. Unfortunately, my shots only served to annoy the beast, as none of them had managed to go through the 'ship's armour. Aside from the gun turrets, no weapons were visible on the aircraft's hull, although I could see several creases in the metal.

As one, the gun turrets all swivelled to face me. There were at least two dozen of them, and for a moment I felt a hopeless feeling swell in my chest. The moment passed, and I took aim again with the cannon. My best chance was to simply shoot the turrets out.

Before I could fire, I heard Volt's voice, from the cockpit. "Hey, D? You mind hacking that database for me?" Deciding against listening further, and hearing the sudden click of a dozen high calibre reloading. Taking aim, I fired another volley.

The impact of a dozen slugs and the larger explosion of half-a-dozen guns shook the gunship, causing it to list slightly. But the turrets were still oriented enough to return fire. I could see the tiny yellow streaks get bigger and bigger, and noticed for the first time how far away from the gunship we were getting.

I could hear Alice's voice over the radio again. "Alright, Lynx, we mopped up the rest of those choppers, we'll back you up against that…thing…" Before I could respond, a shockwave nearly tore me from my gun.

When I managed to renew my grip and look up, the entire gunship was burning. A hole the size of a house had been torn through it, and internal explosions continued to rock the 'ship. The guns had all exploded, their ammunition reserves having been hit by something huge, and explosive.

"What the hell?" Thumbing what I assumed was the cannon's off switch; I grabbed a rail above my head and leaned over to the cockpit. "We've got orbital weapons platforms now?" Volt seemed surprised that I had figured it out so quickly, but she nodded.

"Project ODIN. One big, kick-ass piece of machine hanging in low orbit. It can launch the largest projectiles known to man, and can generally cause enough damage to take out virtually anything." She paused for a moment to let the knowledge sink in. "A friend of mine help design it's computer systems, and he left himself a deliberate back hole through the security systems."

I watched the massive gunship sink beneath the choppy waters, steam hissing off the superheated surface. "And that gunship?" She shook her head. "I don't know. I only have contacts in the weapons division. I might be able to ask about those gun turrets, but that's the best I can do. I'm sorry."

Turning back to the open door, I looked out at the gradually calming waters. The gunship had completely disappeared beneath the water, leaving only a small whirlpool in its place. The water looked so calm, obviously not a representation of what had just happened.

I took the radio from the wall. "Alice, do we have a place in range of this helicopter where we can land? We can't just stay here forever." I heard several grunts, and some hushed conversing. "Yeah, we got a place. Seven, maybe eight leagues North West of here. Calypso Island, can't miss it."

I replaced the radio; returning to the cockpit. "Follow that jet, they'll lead us to wherever we're supposed to go from here." Volt nodded, before turning to look at the back. "Close that door, it'll save some fuel. And we may need that at some point."

After closing the door, the noise of the air and of the rotor blades above my head quieted drastically. The wind, which I had failed to notice, also ceased. Ironically, that caused me to feel uncomfortable. Returning to the cockpit, I sat down on the co-pilot's chair and decided to get some rest. It was going to be a long flight from here.

* * *

When I woke up, the light nearly blinded me. "Morning already?" I asked groggily. Beside me, I heard Volt laugh. "Not quite…" She said, as if I was stating the exact opposite of the truth. Reaching up to rub my eyes, I noticed my hands were blue.

"Oh, right. Better eyesight. My bad." I said sarcastically, shifting myself to a more comfortable position. Deciding against becoming human, I just watched out the window as an island appeared. A big one. "Calypso Island…" I mused under my breath.

If only Angel were here to see the flowers…

* * *

**Finally, another chapter finished. Friggin kidney stone, that. Thanks to Galalithial for that analogy.**

**I decided I wanted to add some insight into the advanced technologies Lynx will be dealing with during this story, and I though up Project ODIN while, strangely enough, playing Halo Reach. +1 video game!**

**Until next time, (hopefully not too long) this is Infinity WEAPON, signing off.**


	4. Calypso 1

**Damn, its been WAY too long since I updated... well, anything really. In any case, sorry for the delay. I've had school to do, and all that stuff. Hopefully, the next two parts of Calypso will come out sooner rather than later.**

**A/N: Fixed some discrepencies and re formatted some things.**

**Enjoy. **

**Calypso**

The island was big, easily a hundred kilometres in diameter, deeply forested, and with natural cliff walls boxing in a small concrete bunker near the centre. Smaller cliffs dotted the coastline, which was sandy and almost pure white in places. One of the longer cliffs had a runway on it, while another had several helipads.

Yet, the moment I laid eyes on that distant spot of land, I knew something was going to go horribly wrong. I couldn't place the feeling, of course, but somehow I just knew. And, unfortunately, I had a penchant for being right about that kind of thing.

I leaned forward, resting my clawed hands against the controls and dials of the helicopter. Surprisingly enough, the tiny plastic covers on several important looking dials managed to hold my weight. My binocular eyes shifted uneasily, trying in vain to find something to justify my fears.

A flock of birds, I couldn't identify which breed, flew around the island in a small circle, flitting through the forests and cliffs like dancers. I watched their flight for a moment, oblivious to what could easily be seen just slightly to the west of Calypso.

Looking away as Volt dipped the chopper lower, I noticed a dark patch of the water, roughly rectangular and nearly seventy meters long. Following the line, I noticed for the first time a small block of ships, steel shells resting on the water.

And they were all red. Painted red, flying a red (and vaguely Oriental) flag, several small red dots moving around on them, and red floodlights on the front. "Those don't look like Bosnian ships…" Volt looked over at my comment.

"Well, that's just beautiful." Her hand flew over the controls, checking various knobs and levers. "Lynx, you better tell your squad about that, could be trouble." I drifted to the back of the helicopter, claws digging into the walls slightly.

I grabbed the radio off the wall, being careful not to damage it with my… less than delicate hands. Fumbling with the switch, I pressed the plastic rectangle to my ear. "Hey, Alice? Do you, ah, see those ships over there?" I felt awkward asking the question, simultaneously asking myself if she could possibly have missed them and whether or not my voice sounded different while I was in my Latios form.

A muffled curse followed the question. "Uh, yeah. Those are, uh, not ours. Not by a long shot." Another muffled curse followed. "Yeah, get to Calypso. A chopper and a damaged fighter plane aren't close to an even match against that fleet. Once we're on the ground we can formulate an attack plan," A pause. "Hopefully one that doesn't involve us getting our asses booted out of Calypso."

Static crackled over the radio. "Un-fied c-aft, id-ify you-selves." The voice was rough, male. Alice chimed back in. "Calypso control, this is the _Gamma Wing, _we request permission to enter friendly airspace." The rough, choppy transmission resumed. "And-chopper?"

I flicked my ears in annoyance, hanging the radio back on the wall. Pulling myself back into the cockpit, I glanced at the window just in time to see an angry red line pass by us mere inches away. "Son of a-, damnit, Lynx they're firing on us!" I blinked, not processing the words for a moment.

Everything clicked into place when an explosion shook the chopper. I almost swore. Almost. Then another explosion sounded just to the left, slamming me into the wall. "Fuck!"

The blow caused my head to swim, and my vision filled with spiralling black dots. When it cleared, the first thing I noticed was a splotch of angry red on the front window of the helicopter. "Volt?" I asked nervously, not wanted to find out if the explosion had knocked her out. I couldn't fly with a person on my back.

I saw her hand press against the glass, leaving a red hand print. Worried, I pulled myself inside. She looked fine, other than a large red gash on her forehead. Blood had already begun to seep down her face, but she whipped it away and gripped the control. "Bastards are going to pay for that…" she muttered.

"Just get us to that island," I said, getting impatient. I never realized how much I hated being cooped up like this. I resumed looking out the window, watching Alice's plane nimbly dodge explosions and tracer rounds. And that gave me an idea.

**ANGEL**

For an instant, everything turned blue. Time seemed to slow, stop. I watched Wraith's left arm swing out, aimed almost right for my forehead. And I watched as colour returned to the world, and Wraith was flung into the wall. He disappeared before he hit it.

I looked around, knowing exactly who my savoir was. The same thing happened often. And sure enough, I caught a flash of black, and a glimpse of sparkling red-purple eyes. "Raziel..." I whispered. Mark was slumped over on the floor, unconscious.

A purple static field appeared around me, swirling iridescently. From somewhere, and it seemed like everywhere, I could hear his voice. Quiet, yet at the same time louder than any other I had heard before. "Run, while you still can!"

Before I had even processed the command, animal instinct forced me into motion. I sprinted for the door, slamming through it easily. The lock had been overridden. It slammed into the wall and crumpled.

I ran through the hall, hearing heavy footsteps behind me. Eventually, they were joined by another pair, and then another. I knew I couldn't run forever, and if I let a large group catch me I had no chance of fighting back. Making a split second decision, I spun around to face my followers.

Three men, wearing the same outfit Mark had worn, almost ran right into me. The one farthest from me lashed out with a savage punch, but I simply caught his fist, twisted his arm around, and slammed my fist onto his elbow, breaking it backward.

His momentum carried him forward, and I elbowed him in the ribs, breaking a few and driving them into his heart and lungs.

**LYNX**

The helicopter touched down unceremoniously, eliciting a flurry of sand. I flew out, enjoying the heat of the sun on my back. For a moment, I was content to let the warm day, and the sound of the sea, lull me into a false sense of peace. But then I returned to the business at hand.

Volt walked out as well, the wound on her face almost completely gone. All that was left by now was a small scar perhaps fifteen centimetres long. The blood had long since stopped flowing, although it still matted her hair in places.

I closed my eyes for a moment, returning to my human state. I though it would be better if I didn't alarm the locals. I felt the return of gravity, and then my feet became much warmer. The sand was uncomfortably hot.

We were almost immediately surrounded by soldiers in bright blue armour, which was dazzlingly bright in the morning sun. We held our hands up mockingly, walking past the gun wielding troops.

One of them reached out to grab me, while another planted himself in my way. Volt had the same problem. Outnumbered, we were forced to actually surrender, although Volt did punch one in the head. One final parting blow.

**

* * *

**The troopers led us inside a partially concealed metal tunnel, which led deep into the cliff face. A series of ramps, stairs, and even a security checkpoint (complete with a half-dozen turrets) followed.

Alice and the rest of my squad eventually found us, relieving our battered guards of their responsibility. All four had nasty marks and dents all over their armour.

Another series of tunnels, stairs, and ramps followed. At one point, we even passed through an elevated walkway high up on the cliff. The view was amazing.

The base was a maze, twisting and turning through the rock of the cliffs and even, at points, underneath the ground itself. The smooth metal of the various tunnels offered no directional input, leading to what I assumed was a deliberate attempt to keep invaders out of the command center for as long as possible.

Gradually, the paths and tunnels filled with soldiers, most of which weren't wearing armour. Other people, dressed in a variety of clothes, also filled the halls very close to the command center. Scientists and engineers.

When we finally reached the command center, I was shocked at how… small it was. Barely twelve feet by twelve feet, the room was perfectly square (with a high ceiling) and dominated completely by large LCD monitors. Various shots of the island were shown on each of them, from beaches to forests to cliffs.

In the corner of the room, a trio of _Pokémon, _a female Lucario, a male Gallade, and a male Blaziken, were examining a monitor that had a zoomed in image of the Haiduken fleet on it. All three were dressed in what I assumed was Bosnian military fatigues; (I'd only seen their clothing once, on me. All other Bosnian soldiers I'd seen were wearing full metal armour.)

An older man, of around fifty, was standing in the exact center of the room. He continually swept his gaze among the myriad of monitors, examining each for less than a second before moving on. Obviously, this man was the commander.

The central screen, which depicted the base's various entrances, blurred out. When it refocused, it was displaying the image of a twenty something woman with snowy white hair and green eyes.

Her eyes locked on to me for a moment, before moving to the commander. "Sir, Alpha has arrived." The commander looked behind him, not turning at all, and proceeded to ignore us. The woman on the screen vanished, replaced by images of grey metal hallways.

The Lucario walked over, gesturing for me to follow her.

**

* * *

**

She led me a short ways away from the command center, before rounding on me, grasping my shirt, and slamming me into a wall. "Who the hell are you?" she asked, eyes staring at me furiously. I was too shocked to respond.

Throwing me to the ground, the Lucario drew a gun and pointed it at my head. "Last chance." She said, almost emotionless. When I failed to respond once again, she knelt by my head and pressed the gun to my forehead.

That, finally, brought me back to my senses. Grabbing the gun, I twisted the Lucario's arm around and flung her at the wall. Brandishing the weapon, I rose lightly to my feet.

"Who's asking?" I mused aloud, dropping the magazine out of the gun as I spoke. It clattered to the floor, rounds spilling out. The rest of the gun soon followed.

The Lucario just continued to stare at me, unflinching. I rested my hand on the sheath of my knife, fighting the urge to pull it free. The stare was beginning to unnerve me.

Out of nowhere, a green form arced across my sight. I spun around just in time to deflect a green fist, deflecting it into the wall and executed an elaborate spinning kick. The impact sent the Gallade stumbling backwards.

I ducked under a punch from the Lucario, countering with a flurry of punches to her abdomen before sending her to the wall with a Back-Kick. The impact left a slight dent on the wall's immaculate steel fixtures.

Spinning around, I caught the fist of the Gallade just inches before it hit my face, twisting it around into a hammerlock. Dodging the resulting counterattack via elbow, I jumped up onto the Gallade's back and sent him sprawling with a jump.

Taking a moment to catch my breath, I surveyed the destruction. The Lucario was unconscious, while the Gallade was on one knee and breathing heavily. Blood trickled down his face, I had cut his forehead.

He charged me, cocking his arm back in preparation to punch me. Moving as fast as I could, I grabbed his upper arm and slammed my palm into his Solar Plexus. I hit him so hard he was flung into the wall, spinning away and hitting the ground hard.

I clenched my fists, realizing I had alienated what few of my kind may have been on this island. I turned away, only to be caught in the face by a clawed fist. I stumbled back, rising my hands protectively in front of my body.

The Blaziken, red as a cherry, stood his ground. He was too relaxed; none of his muscles were taut. He was either uber professional, or a complete novice. Given the force of his punch, I guessed the former.

He watched me, not blinking once, and matched all of my movements. And he was fast. He finished them before I did. In an all out physical fight, he would trounce me with ease.

But I still had a few tricks up my sleeve. Darting to the side, I jumped onto and off of the wall and used the opposite wall as a springboard to launch an airborne spinning kick. I realized too late the mistake I had made.

The Blaziken simply grabbed my extended leg, pulled me close to punch me in the stomach, and then hurled me into the wall. I slumped to the ground, pain exploding through my body.

"A rookie mistake." He said, voice deep and more than a little intimidating. I tried to look at him, but the bad lighting of the room, combined with the black spots in my vision, made this impossible. I simply slumped forward again.

The Blaziken surprised me, offering a hand in getting up. I grasped his avian hand and allowed him to pull me into an awkward standing position. I could barely keep myself from falling over.

He held his hand out again, and I shook it lightly. When he pulled away, I almost fell over. Leaning against the wall for support, I rubbed my arms. "I'm sorry if I broke anything, Lynx. I usually go easier on humans."

The Blaziken knelt by the Gallade, checking for a pulse. "My name is Ryn, by the way." He moved on to the Lucario. "And damn, I've never seen a human move that fast. Nobody, except me, has ever beaten these two together." He turned to me and repeated that same question. "Who the hell are you?"

**

* * *

**Ryn and I ended up having to drag the unconscious duo to the infirmary, despite the fact the Ryn had most certainly given me a concussion. Fighting back moments of extreme dizziness, and sudden head rushes, I managed to drag the Gallade halfway there**.**

Unfortunately, the rough texture of the floor woke him up. There was an awkward moment, him staring up at me, before instincts kicked in. I jumped back, regretting the sudden movement instantly, while the Gallade executed a nice sweep kick before standing and taking a fighting stance.

I was barely standing by that time, my head had begun to swim far too much. My vision blurred out, and I could do nothing as the Gallade kicked me clean across the hallway. I came to a stop more than fifty meters away. "Fuck."

Standing as best I could, I took a fighting stance. As an afterthought, I unsheathed my knife. Gripping it in front of my face, I curled my fingers in a 'bring it' gesture. I was done playing around.

The Gallade ran at me, ignoring the knife completely. I ducked under a wide punch, noting that the Gallade was no using his 'swords' as weapons. "Let it go," I said, ramming my entire body into the Gallade's chest.

He slammed, hard, into the floor. I jumped away, spinning around in the air to land just a few feet away. _Show-off. _Despite my mental… comment, I had a grin on my face. In case you hadn't noticed by now, I absolutely fucking love kicking ass. Testosterone at work for ya.

Flipping my knife into a backhand grip, I put all my weight onto my rear leg. As the Gallade began to rise, I twirled around and slammed my foot into his head. The blow sent him flying into the wall, where he collapsed silently.

The impact jarred my leg, reminding me of my concussed state. I sighed, feeling the adrenalin fade away, only to be replaced by a pounding headache. "Next time, " I said. "Next time _you _get to carry the crazy one." Ryn laughed at the comment.

Unfortunately, again, the Lucario had woken during the fight. I turned, only to have to dodge a punch that would have snapped my neck like so many dried twigs. "What the Fuck?"

I managed to grab her fist when she tried again, and pulled her close. "The fuck do you want from me?" I asked, kicking her away. She landed hard, but managed to roll away just fine.

We faced off, eyes narrowed. Neither of us was willing to give any ground. "Well?" I yelled, holding my arms at my sides. _Give her an opening _I thought. _Let her come to you._

Sure enough, the Lucario tried to charge me. I laughed inwardly. _So many different strategies she could have used… _I ducked to the side, sweep kicking her legs out from under her. Despite everything, I almost felt bad about beating her so badly. She was a girl, for one, and over two feet shorter than me.

She had barely hit the ground before she rolled away and stood, panting heavily now. Looking at her, I noticed she was scared. Not the 'Oh, he's so strong, how do I beat him' scared, but all out 'Fuck, it's a ghost!' kind of scared. Like arachnophobia.

Before either of us could make a move, I heard the whine of a very, _very_ large gun charging. Leaning over, I saw Volt, with said gun in her hands, eyeing me from down the hall. I waved, letting my grin show. The gun lowered… slightly.

The Lucario didn't let up, though. The moment I looked away, she took a swing. I blocked her with my forearm, surprising her as I hadn't been looking back at the time, and swung around. A swift jab to the face knocked her out, and she sprawled onto the floor.

I turned back to Ryn, who was leaning against the wall. "You could get them off my case, you know." I said bluntly, massaging my now aching head. He shook his, "Sorry, but I don't trust you myself. Comes with the territory." He gestured towards the unconscious duo. "Unlike them, however, I know that you have some serious backup. I doubt if the three of us combined have the strength to take on 'The Legendary Volt'"

Volt strode over, looking for all the world like she wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Along the way, she downed the Gallade, who had once again tried to rise. Electricity arced around her gun, though very few arcs actually touched her.

"You have a bad habit of getting into trouble, don't you Lynx?" she teased, pausing to kick again at the Gallade, who was trying, again, to make a nuisance of himself. "He doesn't learn very fast, does he?"

I shook my head, grimacing at the pain the sudden movement caused. I looked over at Ryn, "The rest is up to you. I've got places to be." The Blaziken nodded.

As we were walking away, I looked back to see all three Pokémon on their feet, and while none of them seemed able to attack I noticed the fearful look in the Lucario's eyes. Just as we left hearing range, I heard a faint "..No aura.."

Turning back to Volt, I elbowed her ribs. "Next time some random Pokémon asks me to follow them, do me a favour and knock me out." She laughed, but I was dead serious. My head hurt like a _bitch. _

_No aura…_ I thought to myself. _What could she possibly mean? _I resolved to ask her about it when, or _if_ she recovered from the beating I'd put her through.

"Any guesses?" Volt asked me nonchalantly. "About what?" I inquired, massaging my forehead. She blushed, "Sorry, old habit. Back… _long_ before your birth, That was always the question. 'How many did you kill/maim/beat to a raw pulp?' Often times, we didn't know the exact count. So… 'Any guesses?'"

The revelation chilled me to the core, reminding me just what this woman had been up too during her life. "That's…" She held up her hand. "Don't bother responding. I.. I know what you're thinking. And… Please, just don't."

We slowly made our way back up to the command center, where a very bemused Alice was waiting for me. "Don't trust Kai, just so you know. She's… special, to say the least."

It took a lot of strength not to punch her right then and there.

* * *

**Well, that's all fot now. My first decent action/fight scene. Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to write those?**

**In any case, this is WEAPON, signing off.**


	5. Calypso 2

****

Woo! Two Chapters at once! New record! Everybody cheer!

**What's up ? How's life? Mines good. ^^ Been less than a month. 'Nother new(ish) record! I'll catch you all up later, on to the story.**

**Oh, and one last thing. My editor alerted me to the presence of some **_"Italics in brackets" _**He thought this was thoughts. Its not. That's just Lynx being really, REALLY pissed off about something. Normal **_Italics _**are indications of thought proccesses. Pretty sure I've said that before.**

**Enjoy!**

**The Soldier**

You know, I can't remember the last time I even spoke to my father. I can't remember the last time I'd been given advice, or even if we'd talked at all over the last few years. It was sad just thinking about my relationship with my father.

But unfortunately, I had much, _much _bigger problems.

**

* * *

**"Alice, what the _fuck _is going on down there?" At the moment, I was running through Calypso's forestry, armed with what I assumed was the world's smallest (and lightest) submachine gun. Useless as the little pieces of junk were, it was the only thing I'd had time to grab.

I should probably catch you up. The Haidukens, having grown bored with their blockade, had begun a full force invasion of Calypso. Alice and her squad had been called to the beaches, but I was forced to stay behind. Me, Volt, and the trio of Pokémon were to act as reinforcements and heavy defence.

No one said it, but we all knew that if the Haidukens landed tanks the battle would already be over.

Unfortunately, the teams on the beach (There were a variety of machine gunners, mortar crews, and snipers) were getting hit much harder than anticipated. Thirteen squads were down, while another three had retreated. We were losing. Bad.

"Lynx, their ships are moving," gunfire, then… nothing. "Alice?" I ran faster, jumping fallen logs along the way. This island was too fucking huge, there was no way I could make it in time. "Hello? Alice, answer me dammit!"

I could see the beach, although it was still a good distance away. Too far. Yet at the same time, Everyone had warned me away from flight. Numerous missile platforms, both on Calypso and on the Haiduken fleet had been activated, and both would have little distinction between friend and foe. I would be shot down if I flew.

"Alice!" I paused. "...Carl?" Static. _Shit. Shit shit SHIT! _I switched channels. "Beta team? Gamma? _Does anyone hear me!_" Nothing. But I could still hear gunfire in the distance. So...

"Gotcha!" I spun around, firing a series of wide shots into the brush. Several grunts and groans of pain followed. "Fucking jamming signal!" The green and brown of trees and bushes was now flowered with red.

A trio of red uniformed men stepped out of the bushes. None of them wore any semblance of armour. "Ready to die, brother?" they asked, almost at once. _Brother...? What are these guys?_

"Your death is imminent. You should have let it happen. Less pain that way, brother." I brought my gun up, firing a burst into the head of the speaker. "Fuck you."

His entire head exploded. Gore and blood fountained outward as the decapitated body fell to the ground. The other two quickly followed suit, shot between the eyes.

I don't know how I got this good with a gun.

The sound of gunfire in the distance intensified. Looking up, I saw a pair of jets streak over the island, with a pair of missiles (large ones, too) blazing after them.

"Heavy defence missiles..." I flicked my radio on. "Command? Two planes sighted. Advise?" The response was nearly instant. "Those are _not_ ours." the voice shifted, sounding farther away. "Andy! Shoot them down!"

I turned back to the task at hand. "If I can get a line to command..." Another flick on the radio dialled me into Alpha's frequency. "Alice, you there?"

Still nothing. Now I was worried. "Does _anyone_ hear me?" I flipped through the channels, hearing nothing but static. In the distance, the gunfire ceased. The fighting was over.

And the forests were flooding with red.

**

* * *

**I tried to fight them off. I really did. But I didn't have infinite ammo. I was eventually forced to run. And run like hell.

The sounds of gunfire had resumed, this time from the direction of the base. The beaches were now a lost cause. We were pulling back.

And I was caught in the centre of it.

I ducked a series of bullets, looking wildly into the bushes. No specks of red appeared, nothing challenged me. So who shot?

I scanned around, relying on my psychic abilities. Still nothing. But gunfire still streaked past me, dangerously close to my head.

Above my head, aircraft continued to fly. Crisscrossing smoke trails indicated the path of missiles. In the distance, I could hear the sound of explosions as the myriad of missiles slammed into the base.

Dropping my empty gun, and ignoring common sense, I leaped into the air and in a flash I was soaring just above the trees.

Have I mentioned how awesome flight was? The freedom of movement on a three dimensional field?

I almost immediately caught sight of a pair of missiles, and banked just before they could hit me. They shot ahead, curving gently upwards in an attempt to track me.

A quick 'nudge' sent the twin explosives crashing together, setting off quite the fireworks display. I passed leisurely by the smoking wreckage, feeling the heat of the explosion as the pieces fell back to the ground.

I surveyed the ground, trying to take note of any stragglers. The Bosnian retreat had gone fast, too many soldiers had been left behind in the forests and cliffs. The shores were completely barren, aside from the infrequent landing boat.

I was surprised as to how few red dots there actually were in the forests. The Haidukens were wielding, by far, an inferior force. And yet they had us running with our tails between our legs.

Without knowing it, I started mapping out the island. Every nook and cranny was memorized, every Bosnian soldier became a blue dot, every Haiduken became a red dot with a trajectory line.

When I finally realized what I'd done, I narrowed my eyes. It was time for war.

**

* * *

**Just minutes later, I was back at base. The entire place was hectic, with groups of armoured personnel running every which way. And through it all, I barely managed to catch a glimpse of the commander.

Defeated, I slunk back outside. I still had no idea where the armoury was (The gun I used earlier was an emergency weapon in the command centre), and I wasn't up for running into a combat situation unarmed.

Surprisingly, Volt was nowhere to be found. She'd all but disappeared after I'd left the base. Then again, she'd had her own agenda the entire time she'd been with me.

Eventually, I managed to flag down one of the less frantic soldiers, getting directions to the armoury. Heading toward it, I made a mental list of the various weapons and munitions I would need.

Arriving at the small hut-like armoury, I grabbed a .30 cal assault rifle (along with a half dozen clips), and an 8 gauge pump-action shotgun. Almost as an afterthought, I grabbed a pair of bandoliers filled with shotgun shells.

I pulled the bandoliers over my chest, clipping the rifle ammo to them, and slung the assault rifle over my shoulder. With no visible way of stowing the shotgun, I resolved to simply carry it.

In the span of just a minute, the base had gone from frantic movement to grim preparation. Several machine guns had been set up on the numerous paths to-and-from the base, while several more of the underground entrances had been collapsed.

Several snipers had set up on one of the higher cliffs, and pilots had hastily lifted off the ground. A group of tanks rolled through the underbrush, snapping trees in two without a second thought.

I found my way to the base of the cliff, navigating the mess of ledges and paths that made up the entire face of the rock. The forest was no easier to navigate, with massive trees serving to blot out the sky and tangling shrubbery cutting visibility down to a minimum.

I kept moving, ducking under and climbing over the various fallen tree branches that obstructed any pathways that may have existed at any point.

Using my mental map (and coming to the astonishing revelation that I had kept track of all the red dots and trajectory lines), I was able to plan a small jog that would get me through the largest groups of enemies.

My own thinking started to unnerve me. "What the hell happened to me?" I mused, forcing my way through a dense net of vines. "I'm a teacher for god's sake!"

Without paying attention, I'd managed to zero in on one of the Haiduken fireteams. I almost walked right into them, nothing but the slight sound of crunching leaves alerting me to their presence.

Reacting on instinct, I spun around and planted my back firmly against a tree. Now that I was focused, I kicked myself for not hearing them sooner. It would have been easier to miss a damn elephant crashing through the brush.

Running through a quick count of their number (Yay memorization!) and a quick stock of my ammunition, I ducked around the tree and tried to circle the group.

Watching the subtle signs of red, I snuck as low as I could, hoping that the numerous weapons I had with me wouldn't rattle. Strangely enough, they didn't.

I scaled a tree as silently as I could, what with only one free hand, and stepped onto one of the stronger looking branches. By then, the Haidukens were just barely ahead of me, I could easily jump the rearmost soldier.

Holding the shotgun in my off hand, I unslung the assault rifle and pressed the stock against my shoulder. Aiming was enough of a problem for me on normal occasions, so I was really going out on a limb aiming with one hand.

Aiming as well as I could down the sights, I quickly resolved to get optical attachments for the rifle. I held the weapon steadily enough, and with a quick depression of the trigger, I could watch as the rear-guard's head exploded, blood and bone spraying in every direction.

The others spun, firing in my general direction, but I easily dodged the meager fire, jumping from tree to tree, before planting a burst into the chests of two of the remaining soldiers. They fell silently.

Unfortunately, my gun clicked empty, as the final Haiduken fired a burst into the tree branch I was standing on. The entire thing disintegrated, and I dropped unexpectedly to the ground.

The moment I hit the ground, the Haiduken slammed into me, pulling me to the ground. Rolling onto my back, I kicked him away. He slammed into a tree, hard, and collapsed.

Grabbing my shotgun, which I had dropped during the fight, and pumped a shell into the chamber. Kneeling beside the Haiduken, who was trying to crawl toward his own discarded weapon, I planted the shotgun's muzzle on the back of his skull.

Slowly applying pressure, I forced the man's head into the ground. Without blinking, I pulled the trigger and watched as his head literally _vaporized, _blood and brains flying.

By now, my clothes were stained by a significant amount of blood. Strangely, not a single bullet had hit me, even grazed my skin. The closest any had come was the burst that sent me falling from the tree.

Locating my assault rifle was a chore, as it had been sent flying during my brief scuffle with the Haiduken. I eventually found it more than fifty meters away, hanging from a tree, and quickly reloaded.

Slinging it back over my shoulder, I started running through the forest again, reviewing my map as I went.

Little did I know, someone was watching the entire time.

**

* * *

**It was nearly an hour later when I finally reached the first group of stranded Bosnians. They were almost completely surrounded, and several of them looked wounded.

There were dead on the ground.

One of the Haidukens must have seen me, and several shot rang out, punctuating a dirt cloud being kicked up at my feet. Pivoting, I dodged behind a tree. A series of dull impacts alerted me to the perilous thought that _they were going to shoot through the tree to get me!_

My mind and instincts kicking into overdrive, I jumped out from behind my temporary shelter. Pulling the assault rifle from my back, this time holding it in my left hand, I loosed a quick burst into the shrubbery. The recoil nearly knocked the rifle from my hand.

The Bosnians immediately began moving towards me, if for no other reason than that no enemies had circled around me, yet.

Ducking behind another tree, I came to the realization that not only had my allies retreated, but I was _hopelessly outnumbered._ There were a good two dozen Haidukens surrounding me, all of them armed with state of the art weaponry.

Spinning around the tree, I fired another burst into the thick foliage. This time, I heard a chorus of groans and cries of pain as I hit my mark. Scarlet blood splashed up against the trees, weighing them down and revealing even more Haidukens hiding within the depths of the forest.

I barely had time to move behind another tree before a bullet the size of my finger whizzed by, inches from my hiding spot. I had no doubt that the round would have passed through the tree with little resistance, and spurred on by that thought I leaped out of hiding to attack again.

The resulting hail of bullets nearly got me, and after rolling under the vicious fire and smoothly regaining my footing I began to run. Now that they had a bead on me, I was incapable of stopping.

Holding my assault rifle behind me, I fired randomly until the gun clicked empty and the magazine dropped from the weapon.

Letting it hang loosely from my side, I gripped my shotgun in both hands. Bullets flew by me on all sides, but miraculously none of them hit me.

In the distance, I could see one of the destroyed tunnel entrances to the Calypso underground. An idea wedged itself in my head, refusing to exit. Really, I couldn't have cared less. It was _perfect._

Spinning around, a feat in itself with the speed I had been running, I emptied out my shotgun. I surprised myself with how fast I could pump the damn thing.

"That's what she said."

Realizing the consequences of my sudden change in direction, I planted my feet into the ground and threw all my weight to the side. Bullets passed just millimetres from my face, although once again, none of them hit me.

Rolling behind a tree, I quickly reloaded my weapons. The pack of Haidukens was just barely behind me, and I had to be ready.

I finished putting the last shell in my shotgun when the first red suited soldier ran around the tree, brandishing a high powered rifle, pointing it at my head...

...Simply for me to grab it and point it up, grinning as the rifle discharged harmlessly. The Haiduken was too shocked at my display of speed to react as I punched him in the gut, nearly sending my fist _through _his abdomen. The man died almost instantly as the majority of his vital organs ruptured.

Taking his rifle, along with a few grenades from his belt, I turned back to the tunnel entrance. If I was right, it would be collapsed farther in, rather than nearer to the entrance.

Dashing inside, I set a timer on the grenades and dropped them. If I misjudged anything, I would be stuck inside.

But the Haidukens took the bait. Idiots. Rushing inside the 'cave', they brandished weapons by the dozen. I was stuck at the end, rubble blocking any escape, and yet I was wearing a killer grin. None of them caught on until it was too late.

The grenades detonated, killing several of the soldiers themselves, but triggering a much larger chain reaction. Even as the Haidukens began firing, strobe-like flashes illuminating the dark tunnel, rocks began to fall around them.

The damage was horrific. Every single one of the Haidukens was killed by the rocks, skewered through or crushed under the half ton boulders. The walls and floor were coated in red.

A wicked smile crossed my face as a well time _second_ detonation cleared the entrance. Strolling out, and stooping a few times to close the dead eyes of horror stricken Haidukens, I looped the strap of my new rifle around my shoulder.

My plans, once again, had mutated into something far more beautiful... and dangerous. Returning to the slumped body of the Haiduken who I'd ambushed, I took a few magazines for my new rifle, before disappearing back into the forest.

By the time the next assault group got there, I was long gone and they were confused as hell. "What the fuck..?"

**

* * *

**While descending the cliff back nearer to base was more or less easy for me, what with me being somewhat athletic and all, ascending it closer to the beach was harder than I would have thought possible. Weighed down by my newest weapon, climbing the rocky slope was dangerously taxing.

Once I scaled the jagged rocks, however, the rest of my trip was far faster. Strolling leisurely on the cliff face, I managed to cross the vast space in less than half an hour.

Stopping at the edge of the cliff closest to my next destination, I sat down and dropped my shotgun. Unslinging my rifle, I adjust the scope and settled in. Time for target practise.

Unfortunately, a too familiar blue form had spotted me from afar. In a blur of motion, Kai the Lucario smashed into me, sending me flying away from my favourite weapon.

I managed to hang onto my sniper rifle, even when the force of the blow sent the assault rifle strapped to my back flying away.

I slammed into the ground, rolling back to my feet in an instant. The rifle came up, and I took an easy aim at the small figure of the Lucario. "Seriously?" I yelled, flicking the safety of the gun back on.

I wasn't here to kill my allies.

Unfortunately, she had other ideas. "Who the _hell _are you?" she screamed, raising the shotgun I had left by the edge of the cliff. Fuck.

Resigned, I flicked the safety of my rifle off. Taking aim at Kai's head, I waited. Secure in the fact that I had faster reflexes and a faster weapon than her, I began to relax, slightly.

Probably saved my life.

Had I been totally focused on the Lucario, I wouldn't have noticed as the Gallade, Vas, snuck up behind me. Noticing a moving blotch of colour in my peripheral vision, I spun, and without aiming, fired one handed straight at him.

The bullet passed, harmlessly, a few millimetres from his head. But it had the desired effect. He stumbled back, tripping over a rock.

"What the _fuck _do you want from me?" I yelled, getting really fed up. Kai shrugged, pointing at me. "You, you have _no aura. I cannot read you. _This is unheard of, this makes you an anomaly."

Vas, having regained his footing, pointed at me as well. "Your thoughts are hidden behind a veil. Whatever you are thinking... I cannot tell. You are dangerous."

Suddenly furious, I dropped my rifle. I barely heard the clang as it hit the ground. "You're trying to kill me _because I'm different!" _I screamed, an unearthly purple fire surrounding me. "_You've got to be _fucking _kidding me!"_

I was barely aware of the fact that I was no longer standing, but floating. I had unconsciously reverted to my 'true' form.

Flames continued to dance around me, shooting out in random directions. Several rocks were vaporized in the torrent of flames.

"_We are on the same side, dammit!" _I could feel an odd pressure on my mind, as if animal instinct was trying to take control of me.

The two started to back off, knowing that they would be defenceless against the overpowering psychic blasts which continued to pulverize the cliff stone by stone.

I was so angry, so _furious_, that I almost missed it. The characteristic whine of a mortar.

I spun, just in time to see the projectile explode. I was knocked off my.. feet? I must have turned human again. Odd. And sent flying through the air.

Flipping backwards, I landed hard on my feet, cursing myself for having discarded _all three _of my weapons. What happened next made me curse myself even harder.

For stepping out of the mist, clothed in their characteristic black-and-silver armour, and wielding weapons of all sizes, were five _Infinus _commandos.

And the real battle for Calypso began.

* * *

**Well, that was a tonne of fun to write! Much more so than the next chapter, which felt kinda forced until right at the end.**

**Anyways, not much left to say here.**

**WEAPON, out. (Sort of)**


	6. Calypso 3

**Well that was fast! Heh. I recommend that if you haven't done so already, you read chapter 5. It's new too!**

**That's right! Two in ONE DAY!**

**In any case, onward towards the epicness.**

**Kaotus**

What happened next was too fast for even me to follow. The troops raised their weapons, the menacing glint of steel promising death, and pulled the triggers with almost surreal coordination...

...Only for the ground at their feet to explode, showering me with rock fragments. Blood fountained outward, splashing along the cliff and soaking my boots.

When the smoke cleared, the commandos were gone, having been launched off the cliff. In their place, wielding oversized rocket launchers, were Alice and Travis.

Both were battered and bruised, evidence of their near death on the beaches. But I felt nothing but relief at their return. Carl was nowhere to be seen, however.

Even after the surprising arrival of _Infinus, _I once again held hope that Calypso could be held. But we had only just begun our fight.

Kai tossed me my shotgun, suddenly remorseful of her abrupt attack on me. Kneeling, I recovered my sniper rifle. Unfortunately, my assault rifle was nowhere to be found. Must have fallen off the cliff.

Before I could even call out to Alice, the air was once again full of danger. Several _Infinus _jets soared above my head, flying low enough to bomb the island, while the more versatile helicopters settled in just above the cliff face, guns bursting through open side doors.

The chopper nearest to me, pitch black and bearing the _Infinus _logo in several places, swivelled its main gun to face me. Raising my rifle without any thought, I shot _straight through _the helicopter's armour, hitting a rack of missiles _inside the helicopter's hold!_

The entire thing burst open, spewing flames and white hot debris. A piece of the main rotor blade nearly cleaved Vas in half, the spry Gallade having jumped clear with inches to spare.

Another chopper, hit in the rear rotor by a well placed rocket courtesy of Travis, began spinning out of control. The door gunner, rather than jump, began firing franticly, nicking my shoulder with a bullet, before the entire heli just _dropped, _disappearingover the edge of the cliff.

Dropping my weapons, I stumbled back. One hand clutching my now bleeding shoulder, I all but collapsed, feeling dizzy. Grimacing, I resolved _not_ to fall unconscious for once.

Quickly regaining my footing (no thanks to Kai or Vas), I slung my sniper and held my shotgun with my good arm. My shoulder continued to bleed, soaking through the fabric of my uniform in a matter of seconds.

Gritting my teeth, I took stock of the situation.

_Infinus, _as always, had mobilized faster than anyone could have expected. Dozens of bomber formations already encircled the island, staying just out of range of the missile batteries placed throughout the complex.

Ground troops had all but flooded the island, easily crushing the survivors I had been trying to rescue, along with any and all Haidukens. From what I could see, the machine gun nests had been overrun.

By now, the base would be on lock-down, and I was locked out. We all were.

The beating of helicopter blades alerted me to a more present danger. Spinning around, raising my weapon in a feeble (and futile) attempt to ward off the chopper, I was genuinely surprised when a bullet with a blue tail floored the ten tonne machine.

Volt, half a kilometre away, had hit the bastard with her railgun!

Alice rushed over, armour covered in dents and scratches. I would have hugged her had we not been in an active war zone. Both she and Travis had discarded their rocket launchers, drawing large pistols to replace them.

Kai and Vas had likewise drawn weapons, although they looked pitifully small. Knowing _Infinus, _every commando on this rock would be equipped with weapons larger than me.

Alice looked over at me, fear evident in her voice. "Lynx, we need to get off this rock. Underground, now!" She had hardly finished before another heli appeared, guns spinning up.

This time, however, I was prepared. Sprinting forward, I leaped at the chopper and managed to grab the open door. The gunner, unprepared, was in the process of drawing a weapon when I shot him between the eyes.

I climbed forward into the cockpit, smacking the pilot in the back of the head, before arming the dozen or so missile pods on the front of the helicopter.

Criss-crossed streaks of white were left in the wake of the speeding missiles, most of which simply terminated when the missiles hit the cliff. A few of the missiles, however, had been aimed at the tunnel entrance which I had previously destroyed.

Jumping from the now dead craft, I landed lightly next to the group, and swiftly took charge. "Time to get out of here." I said simply.

It was around that time that I noticed Ryn was absent. This was the first time I'd seen the other two Pokémon without him.

I didn't have time to ask about him, as _yet another _helicopter rose up over the edge of the cliff, this one far wider than the previous four.

As the side door opened, I caught site of several more _Infinus _commandos, armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons.

"Run!" I yelled, knowing that these guys were far more advanced in both weaponry and technique than the Haidukens I had outwitted before.

Forced to retreat, we quickly descended the cliff, all the while being pursued by the commandos. Luckily enough, they must have had orders to capture me alive, as the only bullets to pass by were aimed at Travis and Alice.

Volt, still on top of the cliff, shot down the transport helicopter, which sailed by us in flames. I heard a massive smash as it hit the ground, followed by a moderate sized explosion.

Finally reaching the ground, my pace really took off. I shot ahead of the others, reaching the now gigantic hole in the cliff formed by the missiles I had launched earlier.

Dropping my shotgun and settling into a crouch, I took potshots at the _Infinus _commandos with my rifle as the rest of the group continued to run towards me.

Whilst in the middle of aiming at the head of one of them, I came to a startling realization. _They're... Multiplying! There were twelve before... now there's sixteen?_

My head shot up "Stealth!" I spun, grabbing a knife out of thin air. A hand soon appeared behind it, then an arm, and then a black-and-silver clothed person.

Snapping the man's arm, I kicked him away. "That's cheating," I fumed. Several more men appeared, showing themselves to have a far greater number than I originally though.

I was surrounded, staring down the barrels of more than a dozen rifles. Fucking screwed.

That was when Ryn finally made an appearance.

He came almost out of nowhere, leaping on top of one of the troops before disappearing back into the trees. The other soldiers just stared around incredulously, not noticing as the rest of my team arrived. They were swiftly gunned down, and then our attentions turned to the group which had chased us down the cliff.

Ryn appeared once again, this time lugging a machine gun with him. None of us moved, the entire thing turned into a kind of Mexican standoff. Volt, apparently, didn't agree with this course of action, and shot down from above a bullet that cleared out the entire group of commandos.

"Well, that was simple enough," I thought out loud, reloading my rifle at the same time. "Everybody inside."

Unfortunately, we had attracted too much attention, as several more black-and-silver soldiers started streaming towards us.

Everyone rushed inside the "cave", firing randomly at anything at the entrance. An abandoned door still stood just a few hundred feet inside, pristine despite the fact that explosives had been detonated nearby.

Unfortunately, the detonations had made their mark on the walls of the cavernous tunnel. Groaning could be heard throughout the unnatural cave, evidence of rock preparing to collapse.

And with a mighty crack, the entire ceiling began to collapse. "Fuck!" Ryn and Vas, both of which were great runners, managed to make it inside before a rock fell onto the door, sealing us out. "Double fuck!"

It seemed that all hope was lost at that point.

**VAS**

The rock, easily bigger than us, would not move. Ryn and I were helpless against such heavy objects. And Kai was still trapped outside.

I looked worriedly over at my stolid Blaziken companion, who seemed to have accepted the situation. "What do we do?" I asked, the worry seeping into my voice.

Several gunshots followed my comment, and the both of us winced. Silence. "Nothing we can do, just report back. Cal will want to know about this."

With a sigh, I turned my back on the stone slab, preparing for a long walk through the base of the cliff. "Do you think...?" I trailed off, saddened by the apparent loss of my comrades.

Ryn shook his head, hiding his own dismay from me. "We still have a job to do, with or without Kai. This island is our priority. We should head back, get reequipped for the task ahead."

The rest of the walk was silent and dark. All the lights in the service tunnel had either burnt out or been destroyed by the concussive blast of the consecutive explosions. A waste.

I lost track of time, moving at a snails pace. Ryn quickly disappeared into the darkness, his sense of duty more prevalent than his sense of loyalty. Ass.

**LYNX**

It was close, but somehow we'd done it. The four of us had managed to survive. Well, three of us. Travis had been gunned down in the tunnel. Poor bastard.

Once again, I had taken no fire. None of the commandos even looked in my general direction. It was almost like I was invisible to these guys.

After we had finished ripping the commandos to bits, I angrily discarded my shotgun. The thing was next to useless in a firefight. Following my sudden lack of close quarters weaponry, I began to feel vulnerable.

I would have to make due. The cave, still unstable, was starting to groan again. I didn't want a repeat of what just happened. "Everybody out, now!"

I unslung my rifle, checking every inch of the weapon, before rushing out of the deathtrap of a cave. I had no intention of running into another ambush.

I looked back, watching as Volt descended the rocky cliff. She moved far faster than I did, even carrying that enormous railgun on her back.

She was even faster when she hit the ground.

She ran straight for me, All but enveloping me in the most painful hug of my life. "Damn," she said under her breath. "Do you know how many times your dad would have killed me if I let you die down there? Thanks for being awesome."

For the first time, I realized just how much I meant to her. She tried to hide it, but...

"Listen. _Infinus _is here. They already outnumber us, and I don't want to know the ratio. But right now, we may have a chance. They don't know that you or I are here, we have the element of surprise."

I described a plan to fight our way to the beaches, with Kai and Alice providing sniper support. She was less than supportive, capitalizing on every flaw in my hastily made plan, everything from lack of ammunition to limited intel.

In the end, it was Alice who agreed to the plan, "It might be our last chance at holding Calypso," she said, shooting Volt a dirty look. Kai just looked into the distance, forlorn.

Alice and Volt began to argue, both being the 'top dog' in this situation. Kai just stared out into space, disconnected from everything. I finally made up my mind on what I was going to do.

Walking over to the Lucario, I looked out at whatever she was so focused on. What I saw nearly gave me a heart attack.

More than a dozen Super-gunships had appeared on the horizon, tiny in the distance but advancing fast. They alone had enough firepower to roast Calypso. And we had nothing to stop them.

I thought back to the first gunship I'd encountered, and how I had barely survived the confrontation. It was only Volt's quick thinking and a Weapon of Mass Destruction that had saved me in the end. But a dozen of them...

I turned away from the grim sight, all but ignoring Kai as I ran back over to Volt and simply pointed. I couldn't trust words to convey the danger.

She froze, nearly dropping her weapon in shock. Alice did likewise.

It was Kai who snapped us out of our staring contest. "Listen, we still have a job to do down here." She looked over at the beach, which was only a short run away. "If we control the beaches, we still have a chance. They can't land troops if we have the right firepower..."

Looking meaningfully over at Volt, she continued, "Those planes are still miles away. We'll worry about them when we have to. For now, let's take this rock back."

The four of us quickly modified my original plan. Volt and Kai, armed with my rifle, would act as ranged support for me and Alice. The two of us would sneak through the forest to the beaches and attempt to set up a reasonably well defended position, from which Volt would be able to hit incoming landing craft with her railgun.

Even Alice had to admit that it was pretty foolproof. So long as none of us got stupid (or got shot), we would have a good chance of holding out until Ryn and Vas could rally reinforcements.

I handed over my rifle to Kai, feeling extremely vulnerable without it. All I had now was my wits and more than a little psychic power; it would have to suffice until I got my hands on a real weapon.

We split up, Kai and Volt heading east while Alice and I headed due north. We crept through the near silent forest, cringing when we heard gunfire or shouting in the distance. Every now and then I heard the discharge of Volt's railgun, which worried me more than it should have. She could obviously handle herself.

Keeping low, we managed to sneak around the _Infinus _patrols. Unfortunately, it was starting to get dark and most of the commandos were starting to use inferred sights. They would be able to spot us even through the thick foliage with them.

Seeing one such group in the near distance, I motioned for Alice to stop. She followed my gaze, unconciously chambering a round in her pistol.

There were five in the group, all of them wearing the _Infinus _standard of silver and black. What set them apart was their _size_. Easily six foot seven each, they were by far the tallest _Infinus _soldiers I had ever seen. They were not front line, dime-a-dozen fighters.

Moving in our general direction, they swept their rifles around in wide arcs, covering everything in their immediate vicinity. We wouldn't be able to avoid them. But, at that point, we had the element of surprise.

Motioning for Alice to stay where she was, I snuck around the edge of the group. Their rear-guard, who was more attentive than any Bosnian soldier would be, saw me almost immediately.

Keeping low, I stepped out of the bushes and acted like I didn't know they had spotted me. The rest of the group turned around, training their rifles on my head. A trio of laser sights met on my chest. I ignored them and moved behind a tree.

I stayed there for a moment, trying to calm my now racing heart with a few deep breaths. One of the super-soldiers crept forward, moving at a snail's pace towards my hiding spot.

When he finally reached the tree, he was far more cautious. Barely lifting his feet before putting them back on the ground, he inched his way around the tree. Finally, he swung around the corner, weapon raised, laser sight pointed at nothing.

I jumped onto his back from above, kicking him to the ground. Surprisingly agile for such a large man, he rolled to his feet before he really hit the ground. Rounding on me, he shoved the muzzle of his rifle against my forehead. For the second time of the day, I found myself staring down the barrel of a merciless weapon.

Two gunshots rang out. Before my would be killer could react to that, I twisted his rifle out of his grip. He managed to keep his hand on the trigger, firing a few random rounds while just beside us the surviving super-soldiers began trading shots with Alice.

I elbowed my attacker in the gut, forcing him to let go of the rifle, before spinning it around and shooting him in the face. The weapon boasted an impressive amount of recoil.

I leaned out from my tree just as Alice shot another of the super-soldiers in the face. I planted a trio of shots into the chest of the last man standing, watching as he fell.

Striding over to the near dead soldier, both myself and Alice pointed our guns at his face. He simply laughed. "You... lose... bitch..." he said weakly, blood leaking out of his mouth. I noticed an odd box in one of his hands, which had a flashing red laser on one end.

Realization dawned on me, quickly followed by horror. "Son of a bitch!" I yelled, already running. Alice was too slow, however.

With a dull whine, a long range missile appeared, almost out of nowhere. Less than a split second after I caught sight of it, it hit the ground _right where Alice was standing!_

The resulting explosion knocked me off my feet, sending me nearly thirty feet into the air. I hit the ground hard, right on top of my wounded shoulder. I resisted the urge to scream, instead focusing just on getting off the ground.

Alice and the dead super-soldier were gone, completely vaporized by the explosive projectile. So that was it, years of friendship ended in a split second. Fuck.

Grabbing my new weapon from where it had fallen, I steeled myself for the next step. Kai and Volt would be in position by now, read to provide support from higher ground. I could make a move on the eastern beach.

Setting out at a light jog, I resolved to put as much distance between myself and the site of the missile impact before trying anything. The enemy would know I was coming now, stealth was all but useless.

I examined the weapon I had taken while I ran, and I was pleasantly surprised at its characteristics. It had both a laser sight _and _an optical scope with a three-times zoom. Ejecting the magazine, I found that the bullets were large, easily .40 cal.

It had an ammunition display, synching up with the clip I replaced. It was a great convenience. The rifle was semi-automatic, my favourite fire mode, and the entire thing was also somewhat compact, nothing like the semi-long barrelled sniper rifle I had given to Kai. I think I might have found my favourite weapon ever at that point.

The few times an _Infinus _trooper managed to spot me, a sniper round would lodge itself firmly in their brain. As much as I was loath to acknowledge it, Kai was a great marksmen.

I finally made it to the beach, which was completely silent. Few soldiers had been left to defend it; the Bosnians had all but lost the fight already.

Several helicopters had landed on the sandy expanse, while several more tents had been set up. I could get plenty of ammunition for my new gun from them.

Sneaking behind one of the helicopters, I made my way to one of the largest clusters of tents. When the coast was clear, I made a slight cut in the fabric of one of them with a sharp rock. Empty.

Making a larger cut, I snuck inside. And I honestly couldn't believe my luck. There were dozens of piles of ammunition, some neatly stacked or ordered, others haphazardly thrown into a group. It was child's play to locate the correct type of ammo among the dozens of cartridges in the tent, and I stuffed a small bag I found with them. Another of those amazing rifles went in the bag as well.

I tried sneaking out as stealthily as I had snuck in, but it was futile. Alice had been right all along; it was a trap.

I was quickly surrounded, a half dozen of the riff-raff _Infinus _infantry staring me down. Alarms were raised.

Feigning defeat, I dropped my rifle into the sand and held my hands above my head. One of the soldiers tried grabbing them, only for a bullet to fly almost out of nowhere and take his head off.

I spun around, kicking the dead soldier into another of the group as two more bullets flew into the brains of another two soldiers.

I tackled the fifth soldier before he could react, killing him quickly via neck-snapping, before retrieving my gun from where it had fallen.

The sixth member of the group, who had caught and subsequently thrown off his dead comrade, met his end at the end of my rifle, shot through the heart.

But it wasn't over yet.

More _Infinus _soldiers streamed out of the forest, first a half dozen, then two dozen, then too many for me to count. I was, very literally, in a shitload of trouble.

What saved me, oddly enough, wasn't quick thinking, or my awesome weapon. It had, really, nothing to do with me at all.

What saved me was a shimmering purple explosion, which sent me flying backwards and all the _Infinus _troops to their deaths.

What saved me was a small black form, about the size and shape of a dog.

"Hello, Lynx," he said.

"Hello, Tal." I responded.

* * *

**Dun Dun Duuuuh. That's right, the big (small) man is back in the house. Cliffhangers... How I love thee.**

**I was sitting at my computer for HOURS trying to get this chapter done. Having nothing better to do on my long weekend didn't help either. I really didn't like this chapter, the beggining, when I re-read it, sounded to much like my early writings. I can't explain the feeling.**

**In any case, big thanks to Galalithiel for reading these two chapters beforehand, you are THE best editor a guy could ever get. When I go proffesional, you're getting a few calls.**

**And to all my readers, thanks for being you. I love you guys!**

**Last things last, I want to rename this story (Lynx Academy was too much based on Dracha. I want a new name.), and I was thinking something along the lines of Project: LYNX.**

**In any case, WEAPON out.**


	7. The Return 1

**Ugh. I don't think I've ever hated one of my creations as much as I hated this chapter. The writing itself was... okay, but I really don't like the bomb I dropped up in there. Just...**

**Thanks to Nikolai Riuyoh and Galalithial for some pleasant reviews, and Gal again for being the best editor in the world.**

**Anyways, because I haven't said it for a while, I'll say it now. I don't own Pokemon, nor the Latios/Umbreon/Lucario races. I do, however, own all rights to this story, all OCs, and the company Infinus. Yeah, that's right, I'm their new Commander-In-Chief.**

**In any case, onwards to the bomb dropping. You've been warned.**

* * *

**Tal**

"Hello, Tal," I repeated, the night air suddenly colder.

I could hear the rest of the _Infinus _commandos returning, alarms had been raised after all. Yet the two of us just stood there, watching each other.

He watched me like I was in a zoo.

As he always did when we met, Tal started to pace. Back and forth, back and forth. He never could stop moving. But his eyes remained locked onto mine, staring into my mind.

_Whatever you are thinking... I cannot tell. _Vas' words instantly came to mind. Maybe even Tal couldn't read my thoughts. Although that was a long shot.

"How strange," he said, as if to himself. "You have a blank mind. Yet you are clearly thinking." I noticed that he was grinning. An odd, almost malicious grin.

"Perhaps you have been treated as well? No..." his speech stopped for a moment, then returned, "You are just infantry. No matter how special. This is a natural response, yet it has taken how long?"

Tal stopped pacing, and faced me directly. "We have known each other for almost twenty years. And every single time, I have been able to see your thoughts without a second... well, without a second thought."

His eyes shone a strange purple, as though he were invoking his power to its full. "And yet no matter how hard I try, you are now like a closed book. Unreadable." The grin intensified. "Pity."

I held my rifle a little tighter, nearly squishing the grip to a pulp. Something about him... Something had changed.

In the distance, I could hear gunfire. Lots of it. Either the Bosnians had rallied their meagre remaining forces, or Volt and Kai were fighting with three guns in each hand.

Despite past experience, Tal's stare was beginning to affect me. I could feel my arms begin to tremble, my legs feeling like they had turned to mush. It took all my willpower just to remain standing.

Tal's grin turned into a warm smile. "Some things still work, at least. Good to see you again, Lynx." My eyes widened in shock, the malicious pressure suddenly gone. Nobody could really understand the solitary Umbreon.

"How long has it been since we last met?" he asked, staring off into the distance. "Too long," I replied curtly. Something about him, something had changed.

He looked over at me, smile just a little bigger. "Two years, three months, seventeen days," His eyes flashed brilliantly, revealing to the observant the brilliant mind underneath. "Twelve hours, sixteen minutes, and forty-eight seconds."

My mind completely blown, I just laughed. "You make it sound so... easy. How do you do that?" Tal just kept smiling, completely ignoring my comment.

I felt, rather than heard or saw, Volt and Kai making their way towards us. The gunfire I could hear intensified... and then stopped. Not surprising, really. Both women were more than competent on a battlefield.

My fist, having relaxed on the handle of my rifle, suddenly tightened. Something was wrong... again.

I began to look warily around the dark forest, the sound of waves crashing onto the beach becoming all but silent as I began to tense.

I could see a pair of shadowy forms, creeping through the dark forest. Even with my superior vision, I couldn't make out whether they were friend of foe.

Apparently, Tal could.

The moment he saw them, his eyes narrowed drastically, and his fur began to stand on end. Purple flames began dancing around his body, reminiscent of the same phenomena that I had encountered only a few hours before.

Geez, had it really been that long?

The two figures immediately caught on to us, rifles (similar to the one I was using, now that I think about it) zeroing in on us. Tal began to growl.

An instant before I could react, the telltale ringing and explosive retort of gunfire echoed throughout the forest. Bullets, by the dozen, flashed through the air towards me and Tal, the dim light of the moon making them flash in the darkness.

Less than a split second later, the bullets hung harmlessly in the air not five feet from where I was standing. Small, purplish auras hung around them, clear evidence of psychic intervention. Tal had stopped the bullets.

An instant later, a bolt of light shot out, hitting one of the errant soldiers in the face. He completely disintegrated, turned to dust in an instant. The other soldier had the reflexes to jump out of the way just in time to avoid a second shot.

He rolled to his feet, never having stopped, and fired a pair of shots. Both went extremely wide, Tal didn't need to even attempt to stop them.

Less than a second later, a rapidly growing hole the size of my fist was punched through the man's chest, Tal having hit him with the same attack he had killed the other commando with.

I remained tense, my fierce grip leaving permanent dents on the grip of my rifle. The gunfire in the distance resumed.

With a strange suddenness, a strobe-like flash of gunfire illuminated the forest only a few hundred metres from where I stood. I spun, kneeling and levelling my rifle in one smooth movement.

It was Kai, who was slowly backing towards us. In one hand, she was holding a pistol, the source of the gunfire (for the most part, anyway), and in the other, Rambo style, was my sniper. It was currently dormant, likely from lack of ammo.

I began sighting targets, taking a potshot every now and then to help the poor Lucario out. Despite our... misgivings, I felt a strange sort of kinship with her.

Or maybe I just didn't want some dirty _Infinus _commando getting his mitts on my gun.

With a crack, another bullet exited the muzzle of my rifle, travelling the good quarter of a kilometre between myself and Kai in just under two seconds, and with a wet, squishy plop, it entered the brain cavity of an unlucky commando who had been about to sneak around my new Lucario 'friend'.

I looked up briefly, letting my sudden happiness show. My god, I really have changed.

I resumed shooting, now trying to rid myself of any malicious thoughts that may have wormed their way into my head. It actually had the opposite affect, every shot sent shivers up my spine, but every hit brought me closer to smiling a bloodthirsty smile that would be unbecoming of me.

Kai, having run completely out of ammo, spun around and tried to sprint towards us. She was less than fifty feet away when a sudden _crack_ brought her up short.

Her shoulder exploded out in a shower of red, the momentum of the bullet sending her into a pivotal turn. Another bullet slammed into her chest spike, _shearing the entire thing off. _Milliseconds later, a _third _bullet shot straight into her right hip.

I didn't realize I was running towards her until I caught her limp form, cradling her close. Tal, suddenly beside us, created a sort of psionic shield, protecting us from further harm.

Kai was barely breathing by that point, covered in blood, and barely conscious. Her eyes, almost covered in blood themselves, looked up at me with the same look I had seen on a dying Poocheyana almost sixteen years ago.

Back before I learned just how far _Infinus_ was willing to go.

I held her close, picking her up in wavering arms. I wasn't going to let that happen. Not again. Never, never again.

I stood, looking at Tal. The Umbreon, his rings glowing a wild purple (that had never happened before, now that I think about it. His power must have been growing. Crazy), electricity arcing off his body and into the woods. Screams of pain could be heard all over the place.

Kai was heavier than I expected, it caused strain just holding her. By now she was completely out, head pressed limply against my uniformed chest. Her arm was looped around my neck, as if she had attempted to pull herself closer to me before passing out.

It was all I could do to just hang onto her, not even running yet and barely capable of holding on. But I wouldn't let her die just yet.

Tal, still fighting, was tearing man after man to bits with his insanely high powered attacks. A flash of light briefly illuminated the _entire island _as he shot another purplish blast of energy into the forest. The resulting explosion deafened me for a moment, and nearly blinding me as well.

I frowned, black spots now covering my vision, and blinked rapidly to clear them.

A dilemma faced me, stay with Tal and, moreover, stay _safe_, or run Kai back to the base and hopefully bring her back from the brink of death. Either way, she had a _very _high chance of dieing, but if I kept with Tal, I would survive. Was my survival worth the risk?

Tal looked meaningfully in my general direction for a fraction of a second, before going back to his task at hand. More screams of pain and anguish filled the air.

Taking a few deep breaths, I reviewed my mental map of the island. It was a good thirty kilometres to the base, likely even farther to the infirmary. The chances of me being able to sprint that far were ludicrously low.

But I would have to chance it.

With a final deep breath, I launched myself forward, out of Tal's protective barrier, and into the trees. The enemy troops, seeing a sudden shift in the battle, were quick to turn their sights on me. Explosions and cries of pain, now joined by the occasional gunshot, followed me into the shadowy underbrush.

I sprinted as fast as I could, jumping the occasional fallen log and ducking the far-too-frequent low lying branches. All the _Infinus _soldiers, having been alerted to the fight on the beach by the continual explosions, had left the part of the forest I was running through. A stroke of luck on my part, I guess.

The air was full of a kind of static energy, willing me on yet at the same time causing more and more pain as I tried to exert power that I didn't have. After a good fifteen minutes of sprinting, my legs all but gave out, and I collapsed.

I managed to hit the ground on my back, keeping Kai's limp body from smashing into the ground. A rock the size of my fist had other ideas, though. It sliced clean into my back, sharp point not only drawing blood but tearing muscle.

The entire thing happened not a half inch from my spine.

My arm went limp, and the sudden feeling of blood running down my back nearly brought me to vomit. I'd never actually had to exert myself like this, I'd trained for it but never really expected anything like this to happen.

I just lay there for a moment, listening to the distant sounds of explosions and gunfire. My legs locked up almost immediately after I fell, stiffening from the lack of movement. I would never make it back to base in time now.

**TAL**

Hm. Lynx was so... easy to manipulate. To think we were friends all of the sudden. Idiot. We had never been friends. Ethan ad Silver were barely considered 'friends' to me, it was Raziel who made me visit from time to time. And the damn kid still had the nerve to run away...

The moment Lynx was out of immediate earshot, all the fighting ceased. Not from lack of opponents, but rather, a lack of need. I was in, Lynx would have no idea what was happening.

Several of the _Infinus _troops stepped warily out of the bushes, looking around in calm discretion. Were Lynx to be in any visible area, they would immediately begin shooting. As was the plan.

The idiot would assume they hadn't seen me.

Some of the bravest even took the time to look over, nodding in approval. Too bad so many had to die for this petty ruse. While no where near as useful as myself, they were still people. Most of them had families.

I nodded back with a hint of genuine affection.

After that, though, my thoughts once again turned coldly back to the task at hand. I began grinning again, an almost evil expression. Lynx was in for a little surprise...

All in due time.

**LYNX**

I don't know how long I just lay there, in too much pain to get back up. My legs wouldn't budge, and my shoulder was near literally on fire. Blood had all but soaked my back.

Kai was no better off. Blood had nearly completely covered her body, and her chest was barely rising with each breath. She had, at most, ten minutes. Otherwise, she would either die of asphyxiation or blood loss.

Funny how such a small piece of metal could do so much damage.

Unless...

I'd never tried healing someone before. My father lacked the ability to do so, and although my mother was a designated healer she wasn't the greatest teacher in the world.

And even then, she healed using power I'd never really been able to harness. I fought using physical force, often manifested as psychic power. She healed using... something else.

I rolled over as best I could, and propped myself up on my elbows. My shoulder burned like hell; combination injuries tend to do that.

I reached out, grabbing Kai's limp hand with my own. I closed my eyes, beginning to concentrate. If I couldn't fix the wound proper, I would stitch it back together.

I felt an immediate loss of energy as the bullet lodged in Kai's hip slid out, carrying small bits of bone with it. Then the real loss began.

The broken flesh and skin of her shoulder began to grow back towards itself, stretching to fill the hole. I could hear her groan as her wounds stitched back together, and that was it.

After that, I passed out.

**TAL**

I have to admit, I didn't think it would be this easy to get the upper hand. Unlike the members of my original group, Lynx was smart. Very smart. And he was the only psychic who could have ever compared to me and Razial.

And I admit, the fact that his mind is now unreadable is... irritating to say the least. I'd never seen such an anomaly. And I've been floating around for a while.

The shadowy forest was large, deep, and nearly silent by this point. Lynx was unconscious, having foolishly attempted to 'heal' another being. "Idiot," I said under my breath, walking slowly and silently towards my ultimate destination, the Bosnian base.

What made me angry, more than anything else, were hotheaded _idiots _trying to do things they couldn't accomplish. Lynx certainly fit _that _particular bill. He hadn't even repaired the damage. Idiot.

A cold wind picked up, ruffling my fur and agitating my eyes. I growled in protest, liquid already forming in the front of my eyes.

While I could have easily negated the wind with a little psychic trickery, I had long since declared myself above such wastes of power. Not only that, but I was saving up, just in case.

I grimaced, no longer at peace. My own comments often got the better of me, but this time seemed different. Saving up? A ludicrous concept. Especially for me; my power was supposed to be infinite.

I shrugged the feeling off, letting the cool night air calm me back to a state of peace. The island was surprisingly silent for a warzone, not even crickets could be heard. The sound of breaking waves followed me well into the forest.

Silently, I smiled to myself.

**KAI**

The feeling of waking was less than amazing. The moment my eyes opened, I shut them again; the meager light of the night nearly blinding me.

I regretted having woken, my entire body seemed shaken and in pain. My shoulder was numb.

"Fuck," I swore to myself, rising up as slowly as I could into a sitting position. I regretted that move as well, as I nearly fainted from the resulting head-rush.

I lay back down, forcing myself to think. Lynx had carried me this far... hadn't he? Where could he possibly have gone?

**TAL**

Wraith has always been good at escaping my notice. He often approaches me, trying his hardest to stay hidden, as a _game. _The rat bastard had the nerve to use me for cheap laughs.

"Ass," I said nonchalantly, surprising the silent super-soldier who had once again attempted to creep up behind me. I could almost see the fake hurt look plastered all over his face.

"What gave me away?" he asked, feigning ignorance. I snorted, sending a rock o hit him in the face.

"First, you're not as quiet as you think you are. Second," I paused for a moment, turning to face the errant commander, "You aren't exactly light. The ground shakes when you approach."

The dark haired man seemed genuinely surprised for a moment, Before he passed off the comment with a laugh. "I weigh the standard for men my age Tal, you are just... sensitive to the elements."

"Yes, of course." I retorted, sarcasm all but dripping from my mouth. Wraith once again feigned hurt, chuckling to himself the whole time.

The man's non-committed attitude was certainly irksome. He had enlisted me for his less savoury projects and he wasn't going to devote his own time to them? Ridiculous.

"Listen, Wraith." I said, letting my anger show. "If you want my help that's all well and good. So long as you pull through with your end of the bargain, I have no problems helping you out. But if you insist on following me here, you damn well better learn to fight on my terms."

The danger in my eyes once again surfaced. "Lynx is a smart opponent. He would already have exposed us if not for that Lucario's untimely arrival." A sudden thought struck me, "Remind me to thank your men for that later. If they're still alive..."

"In any case," I continued, still more than a little angry, "We won't beat him if you aren't up for this. He's strong, stronger than Raziel ever was. And you know what that's like..."

* * *

**SIX YEARS AGO**

**RAZIEL**

"Might as well come out, coward!" I screamed, not really intent on anything. I'd been hunting Wraith for a while now, ever since my damn traitor of a father _teamed up with the bastard. _Fucking idiot!

While I couldn't take my father down (power dilution through a generation made me far weaker than him), I could always kill his accomplice. While that wouldn't really achieve anything, it made me feel better than wallowing in self pity would.

While the sane thing to do would have been to get aid from the other members of my father's group, I had immediately ruled out that possibility. Of course, Ethan and Silver would never believe me, Phoenix and Null were far too distant for me to reach, and Alice wasn't even in the damn country.

And while Lynx and Angel would no doubt take my word, neither would be a match for a super soldier at fourteen. I wouldn't risk their lives for something like this.

High risk, no reward, and all that.

Wraith stepped around a small boulder, brandishing his customary kukri knife and no other real weapons. He didn't really expect to beat me with such a small weapon, did he? I started to growl. Idiot.

He started babbling on about some stupid history; I completely ignored him. "Enough stupidity," I barked, already manipulating a variety of rocks around me.

Luckily for Wraith, rocks don't float. Thanks to this, he managed to dodge a few of the oncoming projectiles, having noticed them even through his speech.

What kind of moron gives a speech during battle?

Wraith, being as fast as he was, could easily dodge rocks all day. It was child's play for him to simply duck to the side whenever a rock went in his general direction.

An explosive change of tactics brought him up short. I'll never forget the stunned look on his face; a ball of fire nearly as big as he was had just slammed into his chest.

The impact slammed him into the cliff face, the combination of intense heat and extreme impact velocity cased cracks to appear on the rocky surface.

Before he could even collapse, I followed up with a burst of electricity. Hundreds of thousands of volts coursed through his body, the amperage stopping his heart almost immediately.

As an almost sick afterthought, I flash froze him to the rock. They would be able to revive him... _if _they arrived before the ice melted. And given the temperature of the desert cliff, that wouldn't take long.

"Next time..." I said, staring straight into his eyes, twisted with the rest of his face in a death mask of pain, "You better come prepared..."

* * *

**PRESENT DAY**

**KAI**

Wasn't I surprised to see a fallen Latios just beside me.

Thinking back, I must have noticed him before. I would have simply passed off the blue fur as my own, despite the colour difference.

Yet, there were no Latios living within kilometres of the East; they hated the constant warfare. So who was this one?

Regardless of his origin, instinct kicked in. Not only could I not leave another of my kind to die, (or any Bosnian for that matter) I wouldn't risk the anger of a far superior species over something so trivial.

I failed to notice that I was almost completely healed by that time.

The Latios was obviously hurt, his breathing was weak and slow. Something else seemed off, although I couldn't place the feeling. My pain-and-blood-loss addled brain could barely process anything.

I couldn't lift him, that much was certain. I was barely strong enough to stand, and only then for a short amount of time.

I could only hope someone would find us.

* * *

**Yup, killer underlying plotline. Been festering THAT particular one for a while, seemed a way to kill the growing Gary Stu that is Tal. **

**One hell of a way to go, though.**

**In any case, WEAPON, out.**


	8. The Return 2

**Sorry this took so long, but I've had my hands full and I don't think my editor is going to have hands at all for much longer, so...**

**Yeah...**

**In any case, this chapter is done and I don't think there is any way for me to make it any better, so just read on and judge for yourself.**

**Disclaimer: The Pokemon universe does not belong to me. However, any and all OCs represented in this story are property of me and major concepts of my creation are likewise mine and mine alone.**

**Turncoat**

Everything, I suppose, has an inadvertent effect on the future. Even doing right could lead to unintended death further along. Could we ever really tell what the right thing to do was?

I was tired of being a victim of circumstance, tired of being forced into something I had nothing to do with. I was tired of being hunted.

All I really wanted was a normal... normal-ish life to live. Of course, that couldn't be the case. No, I had to be on the wanted list of the largest criminal organization ever founded.

And now I find out that I have the inexplicable ability to wield a gun? Something bigger than me was certainly calling the shots.

I wasn't going to turn into just another pawn. I would fight... But I would fight on my own terms.

This was just the beginning.

* * *

Despite my bravado while unconscious, I was still a very limited character when awake.

Cracking one eye open, as slowly as I could, I looked around with blurry eyes. Unsurprisingly, I had been taken back to the Bosnian base. I found that I was lying on an infirmary cot.

What did surprise me was that the lighting in the room was so dim that even my augmented eyesight could only draw up vague shapes. I could only imagine what hell it would be for the human occupants of the room.

Opening my other eye, I cast a quick look around the room. For the most part, the dark room was empty. As far as I could tell, the only other figure in the room was a passed out Lucario in a chair next to the cot.

Of course, her wounds had been bandaged, despite the attempted healing. I could only assume she had tried too hard to get me back here and reopened the bullet holes. Idiot.

Well, at least she was alive.

She was out cold, the mind numbing amount of combat in the past few hours having taken their toll. Neither of us would really be up for more warfare for the next few days.

I groaned, shifting off my arms and floating slightly upwards. A bandage was wrapped around my shoulder, evidence of the past night's violence.

Pulling the slightly red cloth away, and wincing when it dragged across the still sensitive scar tissue on my back, I turned towards the sleeping Lucario.

She looked peaceful, in stark contrast to what we'd just been through. Breathing softly (not even a hint of snoring), head lolled to the side, she looked cute. From a human standpoint, anyway. The Latios part of me was screaming at me, saying that she was far more than cute.

Lost in thought for a moment, I failed to notice as Kai woke. All of the sudden, I felt her arms wrap around my neck and for a moment I thought she had reverted to her old, homicidal self.

My worries are banished by a barely audible "Thank you," delivered straight into my ear. The hug continued for another moment, Kai pulling me tight against her frame.

When her grip finally began to slacken, I took advantage of her slip and pushed myself away awkwardly. Our eyes met for a moment, before she gave me a look of disgust and twisted out of my hands. "Tell anyone and you're dead." she said, striding off.

A second later, I heard her hit a wall and laughed softly, turning around and flicking a light switch. Kai nearly cried out as her eyes, used to not being able to see anything, are suddenly bombarded by the intense light.

"What, the light's to bright?" I said mockingly, floating close to her. Her response, fittingly, was a punch in the neck.

**TAL**

Our ultimate goal was Lynx, although I didn't know for what purpose. Wraith was obsessed with the kid for a reason I couldn't fathom. Either he knew the future or I was out of the loop. Neither of those could even possibly be the truth.

What I did know was that I wasn't on Calypso for the sole intent of capturing my former friend's son. An even older friend was waiting for me here.

So quickly after the destruction of that _Infinus _base, where I had very nearly lost my life, the memories had come flooding back. Memories locked away far beyond my imprisonment, and the experimentation.

Memories I actually enjoyed reviewing.

And then, of course, I'd come to the horrific realization that one of the people I had looked up to, someone I had idolized in a past life, someone who had saved my life countless times, was not only dead by my 'hand', but the proprietor of this incident.

Ken was one of the founders of the corporation that had destroyed _both _our lives.

He was also a hero.

After that realization had passed, I'd slowly faded to just a shadow of myself, my life had completely fallen to pieces. My mate killed by my own stupidity, then my son disappearing because of my incompetence, and finally my hero killed by my insatiable thirst for revenge.

Not hard to see why I'd 'gone crazy', as everyone seemed to think. I was just a violent, unstoppable _killing machine _anyway, why not play the part and gain something from it?

My dealings with Wraith were mutually beneficial, he gets Lynx (for whatever purpose he has in mind) and I get back someone who I'd never considered lost. Merely... out of reach.

But then I'd come here... and things had accelerated. Accelerated aggressively. I now had work that had to be done; Lynx could wait.

**LYNX**

"Well you don't have to be rude!" I exclaimed in mock anger, floating fluidly around her to block the door. "Ah ah ah! Can't let you go yet; you owe me an apology now!"

Of course, the hit hadn't hurt at all. But while Kai wasn't an easy target, something about her drew some of my most inert feelings to the surface. Mainly, confusion and anger. But that wasn't all.

An icy grin formed on her face, quickly turning into something almost... evil. _Oh shit... Bad move... _I guess I'd pushed her a bit too far.

A dozen scenarios played through my mind, and I had no doubt that she was thinking something devilish up. And knowing Kai, it _would _be horrifying.

In the end, fortunately, she just pushed me out of the way and strode through the door. Before disappearing she flashed me a _count yourself lucky _glare. Yeesh.

**TAL**

He was dead, there was no doubting that. At the same time, my psychic abilities had never failed me before. I could feel his mind closer than it should have been.

Maybe he was stalking me, maybe I was stalking him. I didn't know which.

I would find out in due time; either way we were going to meet very soon.

Wraith, unfortunately, would be walking into a trap, completely unaware that his backup had abandoned him. He was strong... but Lynx would be stronger. Impossibly strong.

I would deal with him later.

**LYNX**

After the blinding darkness of the infirmary, the blinding light of morning on Calypso was all the brighter.

Stepping out of the base and into the glare, I couldn't help but marvel at it all. This massive island, covered in an green forest and bordered by crystal seas... I could barely describe the view with words.

And it was almost ruined by the smoking hulks of the obliterated Haiduken fleet. While they'd come to the table with at least a hundred ships, only about a dozen remained functional. And they were small, and no match for the _Infinus _or Bosnian forces.

Thankfully, the _Infinus _force had briefly pulled back. Most of the aircraft had disappeared, although the looming spectre of the gunship flotilla had closed a significant distance since I'd last seen it.

In maybe a day it would reach us, although it would likely take longer. It all depended on the size of the gunships themselves, I had yet to get a good estimate beyond _fucking huge_.

I was worried more by the ground forces; they'd not only vanished but they'd taken most of the Bosnian soldiers left standing with them. There was no gunfire echoing through the trees, the island was nearly silent.

"So," I heard from behind me; a man had snuck up on me. "Alpha's toast, sorry for your loss." I barely looked back, "And you are?"

The man laughed slightly, walking up beside me. "Name's Jack," he said, gazing into the distance. "I used to be part of Alpha... _long _before you came along." He chuckled, crossing his arms.

Intrigued, I turned to look over at him fully. "Jack... Alice's partner?" He grinned, although I could tell he was tacking her death worse than I was. "Former partner, unfortunately. After that... particular incident, we had a falling out about how Alpha was going to grow."

"She took the team name with her when she was transferred to the army, while I remained as a jumper." He chuckled again, "And she didn't even get to be team leader! The irony..."

Jack sighed, turning back to the still open base door. "Well, at least she won the argument..." He started walking away, returning to whatever duties he had to attend to.

Before he disappeared completely, I heard a very vague "Do her proud...", and then he was gone.

Turning back to the view, I couldn't help but feel nervous at the sight of the gunships. Even if ODIN was still online, there was no way it would be able to stop all those aircraft in time. There were just too many.

The Bosnian military presence left on Calypso wouldn't stand a chance against that armada. Hell, we were lucky to have survived this long.

_This long... _I couldn't help from thinking. _It's been what, two days since I arrived?How did things get this bad so quickly?_

I already knew the answer to that question, unfortunately. Calypso may have been a major staging point for the Bosnians, but it was far from a threat to _Infinus. _They were here for me.

Maybe Tal would figure a way to beat the imposing aircraft, powerful as he was. _There had to be something we can do..._

* * *

I wasn't expecting the proverbial holy grail from Kai, to be honest. Not once had I considered that she might hold some special knowledge that could save us.

After going back inside, I'd stumbled upon Ryn and Kai. They were already aware of the problem, so I didn't have to do any explaining.

We'd discussed a variety of scenarios, among which was the use of ODIN. The moment I'd mentioned the secret weapon, Kai's eyes lit up.

"Secret weapons? Secret weapons..." Ryn and I exchanged looks. "How far away are the gunships? Lynx, _think dammit!_" she exclaimed, startling me.

"Two days, tops." I responded, although I knew we didn't have even that long. We'd be lucky to survive the day, to be honest.

"How far apart are they?" Confused, I couldn't really respond immediately. "Distance apart? What? Uh, I don't know. They're too far away."

Kai crossed a hand over her mouth, thinking for a moment, before continuing. "Overall mass?" she asked, confusing me even more.

"I don't know! But the things are huge, that's gotta count for something, right." The full effect of her comment kicked in, "Wait, mass? What are you-"

"Ryn!" Kai exclaimed, twirling to face the taller Pokémon. "Given their overall size and armour," he responded, still calm and cool as always. "They may have a mass of around a hundred tonnes. The likelihood of anything higher is negligible, given the amount of thrust it would take to keep them in the air."

"Do the math," was Kai's only response, although I could tell they both knew about something I didn't.

"Well, given the mass of the aircraft, and their numbers, the cascade would hit each of them from the exact centre of their formation if they were roughly one hundred metres apart."

"However," he continued, "The commander would never authorize the use of that missile. The risks were deemed... unacceptable." S_o, this is some kind of super-weapon?_

Kai shrugged. "We don't have much of a choice. And time is getting short. We either launch now or risk destroying ourselves in the crossfire."

"Ryn, you and Lynx get the missile ready for launch. I'll go talk to the commander."

Kai ran off in one direction, while Ryn hauled me around in another. Dragging me along behind him, he strode with the casual determination I'd come to associate with him.

Shaking my arm loose of his grip (no easy task, believe me), I fell into even step behind him. "So, you mind filling me in?"

"Several years ago," he responded, visibly sifting through his memories. "Just after the formation of the Bosnian air force, the scientists on Calypso devised a method of controlling the release of energy created by fusing two special minerals we discovered under the island."

"When shot together into a critical mass state, similar to the 'gun-type' nuclear weapons of old, they cause an absolutely massive energy release. The strange thing is, they create a very large, very dense gravitational field. Everything around the explosion is drawn in, compressed by the field, and turned into plasma to fuel a continued explosion."

A dark gleam entered the Blaziken's eye, "The air itself becomes a fuel for the explosion."

"The initial tests," he continued, "Using incredibly minute amounts of fuel, nearly destroyed the island. A prototype missile was created using roughly twenty times the fuel in the tests. Our top minds have estimated the energy release of the missile to be an Exojoule within a period of two milliseconds."

"We have no idea if that energy will be contained by the massive gravity field or if it will 'spill out' and destroy the surrounding environment. Thus, the weapon was dedicated to a final option weapon. Barely anybody knows about it, as the majority of the staff who worked on the missile and the warhead were killed a while ago. The weapon lays forgotten in it's silo."

"But before we go anywhere, you need to rearm."

* * *

Ryn lead me through a series of hallways, passing back along the infirmary, and to what I assumed was a second armoury. The moment I entered, my eyes fell on the weapons that I had... 'acquired' from the various opponents I'd fought on Calypso.

I'd immediately grabbed my rifle, nearly embracing it like an old friend. Slinging it over my shoulder, I reached next for my longer-ranged weapon, which wasn't looking too hot.

Scratches and dents lined the long barrel, while the stock had been violently bent. "What. The _Fuck!_"

Ryn shrugged apologetically. "Some crazy _Infinus _troop found us, and Kai used that particular weapon as a club."

I fumed silently as I gathered the rest of my gear and suited up. _When this is over, Kai is going to get it. _

The sudden thought made me freeze, in the middle of loading my favourite weapon. _When did I get this attached to these weapons? _I thought, alarmed. _I've had them for all of a day, if that._

"Hurry," I heard Ryn say, "We're running low on time at the moment."

Turning to face him, I slung both my weapons over my shoulder and smiled. "Then let's get to it."

* * *

"_Lynx, Ryn!_" Kai's voice called over the radio. I immediately reached for the communication instrument, pressing the cold plastic case onto my ear. "Yeah?"

"_Where are you two? You were supposed to be at the silo ages ago!" _I couldn't help but grit my teeth. "Well excuse me princess, I was busy fetching the weapon that Ryn tells me _you _tried to use as a club."

The response, as always, was quick and merciless. "_Get over it, Lynx. Lucky for you, the_ _commander agreed to my plan. A couple of technicians are already getting the missile ready."_

"_Get here quick or you might miss the party. I think _Infinus _realized we have WMDs of our own... Enemy movements are getting less stealthy and plenty of targets are moving on me."_

"Alright then, I guess it's Lynx to the rescue yet again." Before Kai could respond, I cut the power to the radio. "Ryn! Let's move."

The two of us began to sprint, rushing past what remained of the Bosnian service staff. The crowds began to thin as we moved into the less important sectors of the base, and then disappeared completely as we moved into the far reaches of the base leading to the missile silos.

Passing through an oddly thick blast door, I stepped into one of the largest rooms I had ever seen. I couldn't help but whistle at the shear size of what occupied most of the space.

"That's one big ass missile!"

And, of course, it really was. Easily dominating the room, the thing looked far more than a simple four stage rocket. Various fins, wings, and fuel tanks adorned the thing, which descended far below the floor I was standing on.

Closer to the weapon, the metal floor turned into a metal mesh catwalk, which terminated a metre away from the missile itself.

While the missile looked somewhat special, the warhead housing looked absolutely ridiculous. Made of two hemi-cones separated by a small gap, the things twisted together like a screw. I could make out the beginning of a clear-ish case of some weird material.

"That design can't be aerodynamic," I thought out loud, walking closer.

A big cluster of computers adorned one of the walls not completely covered by the missile (and I noticed that the room was, oddly, septangular) and a pair of women were working on them.

Ryn and I walked over, looking around the room. A variety of other oddities filled the room, mainly a pair of SCUBA suits with assorted additive gear, and a tank of what I could only guess was oxygen.

Kai was leaning on one of the computers, along with the newly arrived Vas. Neither of them looked happy to see me. Ryn walked over to them immediately.

One of the techies looked over at me, gave me a once over, and then nudged her partner. The other woman looked back at me, shrugged, and went back to work.

The first woman laughed, rising from the computer and striding over. "Names Catherine," she said, extending a hand. "And I hear you can fly." she added as we shook hands.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I can only fly when in a room with no light, so you won't be able to watch..." I joked, "What, you need someone who can fly to help you?"

Catherine shrugged, "It would help bunches, although I suppose that's just wishful thinking. This missile hasn't been properly serviced in years, and what's more its absolutely huge."

She grimaced, "I generally work on small, laser guided missiles. I wouldn't be surprised if this thing had no useable fuel left. Not," she added, "That we need much."

I agreed, looking back at the mammoth hunk of metal. "So, what's with the SCUBA gear?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Missile this size has heat problems, I guess. In the event of catastrophic failure in the cooling system, we are supposed to 'don the SCUBA gear and breach the tank', and essentially freeze the room."

I looked over at Kai, and received a '_she doesn't know what it really is_' look.

"Not like this thing could really produce that large of an explosion. I really don't know why its our only method of taking out those planes. Probably won't work."

_Yeah, right._

"So, what help do you need?" I asked, eager to get the show on the road. Catherine took a moment to respond.

"Well, refuelling certainly. Probably some maintenance on the warhead housing, stupid design as it is... And one of the starter cells isn't working. Doesn't respond to the computers at all. We'll have to fix that, or this missile won't get off the ground."

"And I think one of the fins broke off, I can't tell from too far away. That's why I need a flier. Any other method of reaching it puts us at risk, and we don't exactly have time to fetch climbing gear or ropes."

"It'll be no probl-" A flash of light caused me to stop talking and look towards the flare's source. Someone had opened a very terribly placed door to the silo itself, although I couldn't tell who as the ultra-bright sunlight was wreathing around them.

The figure stepped out of the door frame (and consequently the metal door swung closed), and leaned onto the wall. Given the signature shape and size of the railgun the figure was holding, I could tell immediately that it was Volt.

**TAL**

I couldn't help but grin slightly. Another old enemy... Now I could pit them against each other. Lynx wouldn't know what hit him.

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

**Well, I reached my daily quota of cliffhanger today, so I guess this must be the end of the chapter.**

**I should, let me reinforce that SHOULD, have the next chapter finished around the beginning of the summer break. Until then, this WEAPON is out.**


End file.
